THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
MRS.  VIRGINIA  B.  SPORER 


3  *  ' 


EUROPE  IN  1789 


THE 

FRENCH  REVOLUTION 
AND  NAPOLEON 


BY 

CHARLES  DOWNER  HAZEN 

Professor  of  History  in  Columbia  University 


WITH  MAPS 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
1917 


COPYRIGHT,  1917, 

BY 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 


Published  February,  1917 


THE    QUINN    *    BODEN    CO.  PRESS 


PREFACE 

No  historian  believes  that  history  repeats  itself. 
Yet,  between  different  ages  there  are  frequently 
striking  analogies  and  resemblances.  It  is  prob- 
lems that  repeat  themselves,  not  the  conditions 
which  determine  their  solution.  One  of  these 
problems,  recurrent  in  European  annals,  is  that 
of  the  maintenance  of  a  certain  balance  of  power 
among  the  various  nations  as  essential  to  their 
freedom,  the  maintenance  of  a  situation  to  which 
they  are  accustomed  and  which  they  have  found 
tolerable,  a  change  in  which  would  be  prejudicial 
or  dangerous  to  their  peace  and  safety.  Several 
times  in  modern  history  this  balance  has  been 
threatened  and  Europe  has  purchased  immunity 
from  servitude  by  freely  giving  its  life  blood 
that  life  might  remain  and  might  be  worth 
living. 

To  an  age  like  our  own,  caught  in  the  grip  of 
a  world  war,  whose  issues,  however  incalculable, 
will  inevitably  be  profound,  there  is  much  in- 
struction to  be  gained  from  the  study  of  a 
similar  crisis  in  the  destinies  of  humanity  a  cen- 


111 


204GS30 


iv  PREFACE 

tury  ago.  The  most  dramatic  and  most  impres- 
sive chapter  of  modern  history  was  written  by 
the  French  Revolution  and  by  Napoleon.  And 
between  that  period  and  our  own  not  only  are 
there  points  of  interesting  and  suggestive  com- 
parison but  there  is  also  a  distinct  line  of  causa- 
tion connecting  the  two. 

For  the  convenience  of  those  who  may  wish 
to  review  this  memorable  and  instructive  period 
I  have  brought  together  in  this  volume  the 
chapters  dealing  with  it  in  my  Modern  European 
History.  In  the  opening  twentieth  century,  as 
in  the  opening  nineteenth,  mankind  has  been 
driven  to  the  ordeal  by  battle  by  the  resolve  to 
preserve  the  most  cherished  things  of  life. 
Now,  as  then,  civilization  hangs  upon  the  arbitra- 
ment of  the  sword.  It  is  not  churches  alone  that 
owe  their  existence  and  their  power  to  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs.  The  most  precious  rights  of 
nations  and  of  individuals  have  not  only  been 
achieved,  but  have  been  maintained  inviolate,  by 
the  unconquerable  spirit  of  the  brave. 

"  Great  is  the  glory,  for  the  strife  is  hard!  " 

C.  D.  H. 
January  10,  1917. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  :  The  Old  Regime  in  Europe    .         i 

CHAPTER 

I.  THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE    ....      55 

II.  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      .       .       .     100 

III.  THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION        .       .     129 

IV.  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY      .       .       .       .152 
V.  THE  CONVENTION 180 

VI.    THE  DIRECTORY 229 

VII.    THE  CONSULATE 267 

VIII.    THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE  .       .       .     290 

IX.    THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT      .       .       .       .318 

X.    THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON    .       .     338 

INDEX 371 


MAPS 

IN  COLOR 

Europe  in  1789 Frontispiece 

Europe  in  1740  .               I 

Italy  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  1770  ....  14 

The  Growth  of  Prussia  under  Frederick  the  Great      .  26 

Germany  in  1789 32 

The  Partition  of  Poland 54 

France  before  the  Revolution 62 

France  by  Departments 140 

Northern  Italy  Illustrating  Bonaparte's  First  Campaign  244 

Europe  in  1811 340 

IN  BLACK 

Egypt  and  Syria 257 

Map  Illustrating  Campaigns  of  Napoleon     .       t.       .  364 


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THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

AND  NAPOLEON 


ANY  ONE  who  seeks  to  understand  the  stirring 
period  in  which  we  are  now  living  becomes 
quickly  aware  that  he  must  first  know  the  his- 
tory of  the  French  Revolution,  a  movement  that 
inaugurated  a  new  era,  not  only  for  France  but 
for  the  world.  The  years  from  1789  to  1815,  the 
years  of  the  Revolution  and  of  Napoleon,  effected 
one  of  the  greatest  and  most  difficult  transitions 
of  which  history  bears  record,  and  to  gain  any 
proper  sense  of  its  significance  one  must  have 
some  glimpse  of  the  background,  some  concep- 
tion of  what  Europe  was  like  in  1789.  That  back- 
ground can  only  be  sketched  here  in  a  few  broad 
strokes,  far  from  adequate  to  a  satisfactory  ap- 
preciation, but  at  least  indicating  the  point  of 
departure. 

What  was  Europe  in  1789?  One  thing,  at 
least,  it  was  not :  it  was  not  a  unity.  There  were 
states  of  every  size  and  shape  and  with  every 
form  of  government.  The  States  of  the  Church 
were  theocratic;  capricious  and  cruel  despotism 


2  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

prevailed  in  Turkey;  absolute  monarchy  in  Rus- 
sia, Austria,  France,  Prussia;  constitutional  mon- 
archy in  England;  while  there  were  various 
kinds  of  so-called  republics — federal  republics  in 
Holland  and  Switzerland,  a  republic  whose  head 
was  an  elective  king  in  Poland,  aristocratic  re- 
publics in  Venice  and  Genoa  and  in  the  free  cities 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

Of  these  states  the  one  that  was  to  be  the  most 
persistent  enemy  of  France  and  of  French  ideas 
throughout  the  period  we  are  about  to  describe 
was  England,  a  commercial  and  colonial  empire  of 
the  first  importance.  This  empire,  of  long,  slow 
growth,  had  passed  through  many  highly  signifi- 
cant experiences  during  the  eighteenth  century. 
Indeed,  that  century  is  one  of  the  most  momen- 
tous in  English  history,  rendered  forever  memo- 
rable by  three  great  series  of  events  which  in  im- 
portant respects  transformed  her  national  life 
and  her  international  relations,  giving  them  the 
character  and  tendency  which  have  been  theirs 
ever  since.  These  three  streams  of  tendency  or 
lines  of  evolution  out  of  which  the  modern  power 
of  Britain  has  emerged  were:  the  acquisition  of 
what  are  still  the  most  valuable  parts  of  her 
colonial  empire,  Canada  and  India;  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  parliamentary  system  of  gov- 
ernment, that  is,  government  of  the  nation 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  3 

by  its  representatives,  not  by  its  royal  house, 
the  undoubted  supremacy  of  Parliament  over 
the  Crown;  and  the  beginnings  of  what  is 
called  the  Industrial  Revolution,  that  is,  of  the 
modern  factory  system  of  production  on  a  vast 
scale  which  during  the  course  of  the  nineteenth 
century  made  England  easily  the  chief  industrial 
nation  of  the  world. 

The  evolution  of  the  parliamentary  system  of 
government  had,  of  course,  been  long  in  progress 
but  was  immensely  furthered  by  the  advent  in 
1714  of  a  new  royal  dynasty,  the  House  of  Han- 
over, still  at  this  hour  the  reigning  family.  The 
struggle  between  Crown  and  Parliament,  which 
had  been  long  proceeding  and  had  become  tense 
and  violent  in  the  seventeenth  century  in  connec- 
tion with  the  attempts  of  the  Stuart  kings  to 
make  the  monarchy  all-powerful  and  supreme, 
ended  finally  in  the  eighteenth  century  with  the 
victory  of  Parliament,  and  the  monarch  ceased 
to  be,  what  he  remained  in  the  rest  of  Europe, 
the  dominant  element  in  the  state. 

In  1701  Parliament,  by  mere  legislative  act, 
altered  the  line  of  succession  by  passing  over  the 
direct,  legitimate  claimant  because  he  was  a 
Catholic,  and  by  calling  to  the  throne  George, 
Elector  of  Hanover,  because  he  was  a  Protes- 
tant. Thus  the  older  branch  of  the  royal  family 


4  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

was  set  aside  and  a  younger  or  collateral  branch 
was  put  in  its  place.  This  was  a  plain  defiance  of 
the  ordinary  rules  of  descent  which  generally 
underlie  the  monarchical  system  everywhere.  It 
showed  that  the  will  of  Parliament  was  superior 
to  the  monarchical  principle,  that,  in  a  way,  the 
monarchy  was  elective.  Still  other  important 
consequences  followed  from  this  act. 

George  I,  at  the  time  of  his  accession  to  the 
English  throne  in  1714  fifty-four  years  of  age, 
was  a  German.  He  continued  to  be  a  German 
prince,  more  concerned  with  his  electorate  of 
Hanover  than  with  his  new  kingdom.  He  did 
not  understand  a  word  of  English,  and  as  his 
ministers  were  similarly  ignorant  of  German,  he 
was  compelled  to  resort  to  a  dubious  Latin  when 
he  wished  to  communicate  with  them.  He  was 
king  from  1714  to  1727,  and  was  followed  by  his 
son,  George  II,  who  ruled  from  1727  to  1760  and 
who,  though  he  knew  English,  spoke  it  badly 
and  was  far  more  interested  in  his  petty  German 
principality  than  in  imperial  Britain. 

The  first  two  Georges,  whose  chief  interest 
in  England  was  the  money  they  could  get  out 
of  it,  therefore  allowed  their  ministers  to  carry 
on  the  government  and  they  did  not  even  attend 
the  meetings  of  the  ministers  where  questions  of 
policy  were  decided.  For  forty-six  years  this 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  5 

royal  abstention  continued.  The  result  was  the 
establishment  of  a  regime  never  seen  before  in 
any  country.  The  royal  power  was  no  longer 
exercised  by  the  king,  but  was  exercised  by  his 
ministers,  who,  moreover,  were  members  of  Par- 
liament. In  other  words,  to  use  a  phrase  that 
has  become  famous,  the  king  reigns  but  does  not 
govern.  Parliament  really  governs,  through  a 
committee  of  its  members,  the  ministers. 

The  ministers  must  have  the  support  of  the 
majority  party  in  Parliament,  and  during  all  this 
period  they,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  relied  upon  the 
party  of  the  Whigs.  It  had  been  the  Whigs  who 
had  carried  through  the  revolution  of  1688  and 
who  were  committed  to  the  principle  of  the  limi- 
tation of  the  royal  power  in  favor  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  Parliament.  As  George  I  and  George 
II  owed  their  throne  to  this  party,  and  as  the 
adherents  of  the  other  great  party,  the  Tories, 
were  long  supposed  to  be  supporters  of  the  dis- 
carded Stuarts,  England  entered  upon  a  period 
of  Whig  rule,  which  steadily  undermined  the  au- 
thority of  the  monarch.  The  Hanoverian  kings 
owed  their  position  as  kings  to  the  Whigs.  They 
paid  for  their  right  to  reign  by  the  abandonment 
of  the  powers  that  had  hitherto  inhered  in  the 
monarch. 

The  change  that  had  come  over  their  position 


6  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

did  not  escape  the  attention  of  the  monarchs  con- 
cerned. George  II,  compelled  to  accept  minis- 
ters he  detested,  considered  himself  "  a  prisoner 
upon  the  throne."  '  Your  ministers,  Sire,"  said 
one  of  them  to  him,  "  are  but  the  instruments  of 
your  government."  George  smiled  and  replied, 
"  In  this  country  the  ministers  are  king." 

Besides  the  introduction  of  this  unique  form 
of  government  the  other  great  achievement  of 
the  Whigs  during  this  period  was  an  extraordi- 
nary increase  in  the  colonial  possessions  of  Eng- 
land, the  real  launching  of  Britain  upon  her 
career  as  a  world-power,  as  a  great  imperial 
state.  This  sudden,  tremendous  expansion  was 
a  result  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  which  raged 
from  1756  to  1763  in  every  part  of  the  world,  in 
Europe,  in  America,  in  Asia,  and  on  the  sea. 
Many  nations  were  involved  and  the  struggle 
was  highly  complicated,  but  two  phases  of  it 
stand  out  particularly  and  in  high  relief,  the 
struggle  between  England  and  France,  and  the 
struggle  between  Prussia  on  the  one  hand  and 
Austria,  France,  and  Russia  on  the  other.  The 
Seven  Years'  War  remains  a  mighty  landmark 
in  the  history  of  England  and  of  Prussia,  its 
two  conspicuous  beneficiaries. 

England  found  in  William  Pitt,  later  Earl  of 
Chatham,  an  incomparable  leader,  a  great  orator 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  7 

of  a  declamatory  and  theatrical  type,  an  incor- 
ruptible statesman,  a  passionate  patriot,  a  man 
instinct  with  energy,  aglow  with  pride  and  con- 
fidence in  the  splendor  of  the  destinies  reserved 
for  his  country.  Pitt  infused  his  own  energy,  his 
irresistible  driving  power  into  every  branch  of 
the  public  service.  Head  of  the  ministry  from 
1757  to  1761,  he  aroused  the  national  sentiment 
to  such  a  pitch,  he  directed  the  national  efforts 
with  such  contagious  and  imperious  confidence, 
that  he  turned  a  war  that  had  begun  badly  into 
the  most  glorious  and  successful  that  England 
had  ever  fought.  On  the  sea,  in  India,  and  in 
America,  victory  after  victory  over  the  French 
rewarded  the  nation's  extraordinary  efforts.  Pitt 
boasted  that  he  alone  could  save  the  country. 
Save  it  he  surely  did.  He  was  the  greatest  of 
war  ministers,  imparting  his  indomitable  resolu- 
tion to  multitudes  of  others.  No  one,  it  was  said, 
ever  entered  his  office  without  coming  out  a 
braver  man.  His  triumph  was  complete  when 
Wolfe  defeated  Montcalm  upon  the  Plains  of 
Abraham. 

By  the  Peace  of  Paris,  which  closed  this 
epochal  struggle,  England  acquired  from  France 
the  vast  stretches  of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  and 
the  region  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  and  also  acquired  Florida  from 


8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Spain.  From  France,  too,  she  snatched  at  the 
same  time  supremacy  in  India.  Thus  England 
had  become  a  veritable  world-empire  under  the 
inspiring  leadership  of  the  "  Great  Commoner." 
Her  horizons,  her  interests,  had  grown  vastly 
more  spacious  by  this  rapid  increase  in  military 
renown,  in  power,  in  territory.  She  had  mounted 
to  higher  influence  in  the  world,  and  that,  too,  at 
the  expense  of  her  old,  historic  enemy  just  across 
the  Channel. 

But  all  this  prestige  and  greatness  were  im- 
periled and  gravely  compromised  by  the  reign 
that  had  just  begun.  George  III  had,  in  1760, 
come  to  the  throne  which  he  was  not  to  leave 
until  claimed  by  death  sixty  years  later.  '  The 
name  of  George  III,"  writes  one  English  his- 
torian, "  cannot  be  penned  without  a  pang,  can 
hardly  be  penned  without  a  curse,  such  mischief 
was  he  fated  to  do  the  country."  Unlike  his  two 
predecessors,  he  was  not  a  German,  but  was  a 
son  of  England,  had  grown  up  in  England  and 
had  been  educated  there,  and  on  his  accession, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  had  announced  in  his 
most  famous  utterance  that  he  "  gloried  in  the 
name  of  Briton."  But  wisdom  is  no  birthright, 
and  George  III  was  not  destined  to  show  forth 
in  his  life  the  saving  grace  of  that  quality.  With 
many  personal  virtues,  he  was  one  of  the  least 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  9 

wise  of  monarchs  and  one  of  the  most  obstinate. 

His  mother,  a  German  princess,  attached  to  all 
the  despotic  notions  of  her  native  land,  had  fre- 
quently said  to  him,  "  George,  be  a  king."  This 
maternal  advice,  that  he  should  not  follow  the 
example  of  the  first  two  Georges  but  should  mix 
actively  in  public  affairs,  fell  upon  fruitful  soil. 
George  was  resolved  not  only  to  reign  but  to 
govern  in  the  good  old  monarchical  way.  This 
determination  brought  him  into  a  sharp  and  mo- 
mentous clash  with  the  tendency  and  the  desire 
of  his  age.  The  historical  significance  of  George 
III  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  was  resolved  to  be  the 
chief  directing  power  in  the  state,  that  he  chal- 
lenged the  system  of  government  which  gave 
that  position  to  Parliament  and  its  ministers, 
that  he  threw  himself  directly  athwart  the  recent 
constitutional  development,  that  he  intended  to 
break  up  the  practices  followed  during  the  last 
two  reigns  and  to  rule  personally  as  did  the 
other  sovereigns  of  the  world.  As  the  new  sys- 
tem was  insecurely  established,  his  vigorous  in- 
tervention brought  on  a  crisis  in  which  it  nearly 
perished. 

George  III,  bent  upon  being  king  in  fact  as 
well  as  in  name,  did  not  formally  oppose  the  cabi- 
net system  of  government,  but  sought  to  make 
the  cabinet  a.  mere  tool  of  his  will,  filling  it  with 


io  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

men  who  would  take  orders  from  him,  and  aiding 
them  in  controlling  Parliament  by  the  use  of 
various  forms  of  bribery  and  influence.  It  took 
several  years  to  effect  this  real  perversion  of  the 
cabinet  system,  but  in  the  end  the  King  abso- 
lutely controlled  the  ministry  and  the  two  cham- 
bers of  Parliament.  The  Whigs,  who  since  1688 
had  dominated  the  monarch  and  had  successfully 
asserted  the  predominance  of  Parliament,  were 
gradually  disrupted  by  the  insidious  royal  policy, 
and  were  supplanted  by  the  Tories,  who  were 
always  favorable  to  a  strong  kingship  and  who 
now  entered  upon  a  period  of  supremacy  which 
was  to  last  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century. 

After  ten  years  of  this  mining  and  sapping  the 
King's  ideas  triumphed  in  the  creation  of  a  min- 
istry which  was  completely  submissive  to  his 
will.  This  ministry,  of  which  Lord  North  was  the 
leading  member,  lasted  twelve  years,  from  1770 
to  1782.  Lord  North  was  minister  after  the 
King's  own  heart.  He  never  pretended  to  be  the 
head  of  the  government,  but  accepted  and  exe- 
cuted the  King's  wishes  with  the  ready  obedience 
of  a  lackey.  The  royal  autocracy  was  scarcely 
veiled  by  the  mere  continuance  of  the  outer  forms 
of  a  free  government. 

Having  thus  secured  entire  control  of  ministry 
and  Parliament,  George  III  proceeded  to  lead 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  11 

the  British  Empire  straight  toward  destruction, 
to  what  Goldwin  Smith  has  called  "  the  most 
tragical  disaster  in  English  history."  The  King 
and  his  tools  initiated  a  policy  which  led  swiftly 
and  inevitably  to  civil  war.  For  the  American 
Revolution  was  a  civil  war  within  the  British 
Empire.  The  King  had  his  supporters  both  in 
England  and  in  America;  he  had  opponents  both 
in  America  and  England.  Party  divisions  were 
much  the  same  in  the  mother  country  and  in 
the  colonies,  Whigs  versus  Tories,  the  uphold- 
ers of  the  principle  of  self-government  against 
the  upholders  of  the  principle  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative. In  this  appalling  crisis  not  only  was 
the  independence  of  America  involved,  but  par- 
liamentary government  as  worked  out  in  Eng- 
land was  also  at  stake.  Had  George  III  tri- 
umphed not  only  would  colonial  liberties  have 
disappeared,  but  the  right  of  Parliament  to  be 
predominant  in  the  state  at  home  would  have 
vanished.  The  Whigs  of  England  knew  this 
well,  and  their  leaders,  Pitt,  Fox,  Burke,  gloried 
in  the  victories  of  the  rebellious  colonists. 

The  struggle  for  the  fundamental  rights  of  free 
men,  for  that  was  what  the  American  Revolu- 
tion signified  for  both  America  and  England,  was 
long  doubtful.  France  now  took  her  revenge  for 
the  humiliations  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  by 


12  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

aiding  the  thirteen  colonies,  hoping  thus  to 
humble  her  arrogant  neighbor,  grown  so  great 
at  her  expense.  It  was  the  disasters  of  the 
American  war  that  saved  the  parliamentary  sys- 
tem of  government  for  England  by  rendering 
the  King  unpopular,  because  disgracefully  unsuc- 
cessful. In  1782  Lord  North  and  all  his  col- 
leagues resigned.  This  was  the  first  time  that 
an  entire  ministry  had  been  overthrown. 

George  the  Third's  attempt  to  be  master  in  the 
state  had  failed,  and  although  the  full  conse- 
quences of  his  defeat  did  not  appear  for  some 
time,  nevertheless  they  were  decisive  for  the 
future  of  England.  The  king  might  henceforth 
reign  but  he  was  not  to  govern.  To  get  this  car- 
dinal principle  of  free  government  under  mo- 
narchical forms  established  an  empire  was  dis- 
rupted. From  that  disruption  flowed  two 
mighty  consequences.  The  principles  of  repub- 
lican government  gained  a  field  for  development 
in  the  New  World,  and  those  of  constitutional 
or  limited  monarchy  a  field  in  one  of  the  fa- 
mous countries  of  the  Old.  These  two  types  of 
government  have  since  exerted  a  powerful  and 
an  increasing  influence  upon  other  peoples  de- 
sirous of  controlling  their  own  destinies.  Their 
importance  as  models  worthy  of  imitation  has 
not  yet  been  exhausted. 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  13 

But  the  disaster  of  the  American  war  was  so 
great  that  the  immediate  effect  was  a  decided  im- 
pairment of  England's  prestige.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  after  that  she  was  considered  by  most  of 
the  rulers  of  Europe  a  decaying  nation.  She  had 
lost  her  most  valuable  colonies  in  America.  The 
notion  was  prevalent  that  her  successes  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War  had  not  been  due  to  her  own 
ability  but  to  the  incapacity  of  Louis  XV, 
whereas  they  had  been  due  to  both.  The  idea 
that  it  was  possible  to  destroy  England  was  cur- 
rent in  France,  the  idea  that  her  empire  was 
really  a  phantom  empire  which  would  disappear 
at  the  first  hostile  touch,  that  India  could  be  de- 
tached far  more  easily  than  the  thirteen  colonies 
had  been.  It  was  considered  that  as  she  had 
grown  rich  she  had  lost  her  virility  and  energy 
and  was  undermined  by  luxury  and  sloth.  At 
the  same  time,  although  in  flagrant  contradiction 
to  the  sentiments  just  described,  there  was  a 
vague  yet  genuine  fear  of  her.  Though  she  had 
received  so  many  blows,  yet  she  had  herself  in 
the  past  given  so  many  to  her  rivals,  and  espe- 
cially to  France,  that  they  did  well  to  have  a  lurk- 
ing suspicion  after  all  as  to  her  entire  decadence. 
The  rivalry,  centuries  old,  of  France  and  Eng- 
land was  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  the  general 
European  situation.  It  had  shown  no  signs  of 


14  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

abating.  The  issues  of  the  Revolution  were  to 
cause  it  to  flame  up  portentously.  It  dominated 
the  whole  period  down  to  Waterloo.  In  Eng- 
land the  French  Revolution  was  destined  to  find 
its  most  redoubtable  and  resolute  enemy. 

In  Italy,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  to  find, 
partly  a  receptive  pupil,  partly  an  easy  prey. 
The  most  important  thing  about  Italy  was  that 
it  was  unimportant.  Indeed,  there  was  no  Italy, 
no  united,  single  country,  but  only  a  collection 
of  petty  states,  generally  backward  in  their  politi- 
cal and  economic  development.  Once  masters  in 
their  own  house,  the  Italians  had  long  ago  fallen 
from  their  high  estate  and  had  for  centuries  been 
in  more  or  less  subjection  to  foreigners,  to 
Spaniards,  to  Austrians,  sometimes  to  the  French. 
This  had  reacted  unfavorably  upon  their  charac- 
ters, and  had  made  them  timid,  time-serving, 
self-indulgent,  pessimistic.  They  had  no  great 
attachment  to  their  governments,  save  possibly 
in  Piedmont  and  in  the  republics  of  Venice  and 
Genoa,  and  there  was  no  reason  why  they  should 
have.  Several  of  the  governments  were  impor- 
tations from  abroad,  or  rather  impositions,  which 
had  never  struck  root  in  the  minds  or  interests 
of  the  peoples.  The  political  atmosphere  was  one 
of  indifference,  weariness,  disillusionment.  How- 
ever, toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 


ITALY 

IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 
177O 


K)  Long.East  12ororeen»kh  14 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  15 

there  were  signs  of  an  awakening.  The  Italians 
could  never  long  be  unmindful  of  the  glories  of 
their  past.  They  had  their  haunting  traditions 
which  would  never  allow  them  to  forget  or  re- 
nounce their  rights,  however  oppressed  they 
might  be.  They  were  a  people  of  imagination  and 
of  fire,  though  they  long  appeared  to  foreign- 
ers quite  the  reverse,  as  in  fact  the  very  stuff  of 
which  willing  slaves  are  made,  a  view  which  was 
seriously  erroneous.  It  cannot  be  said  that  there 
was  in  the  eighteenth  century  any  movement 
aiming  at  making  Italy  a  nation,  but  there  were 
poets  and  historians  who  flashed  out,  now  and 
then,  with  some  patriotic  phrase  or  figure  that 
revealed  vividly  a  shining  goal  on  the  distant 
horizon  toward  which  all  Italians  ought  to  press. 
'  The  day  will  come,"  said  Alfieri,  "  when  the 
Italians  will  be  born  again,  audacious  on  the  field 
of  battle."  Humanity  was  not  meant  to  be  shut 
in  by  such  narrow  horizons  as  those  presented 
by  these  petty  states,  but  was  entitled  to  more 
spacious  destinies.  This  longing  for  national 
unity  was  as  yet  the  passion  of  only  a  few,  of 
men  of  imagination  who  had  a  lively  sense  of 
Italy's  great  past  and  who  also  possessed  an  in- 
stinct for  the  future.  A  French  writer  expressed 
a  mood  quite  general  with  cultivated  people  when 
she  said :  "  The  Italians  are  far  more  remark- 


16  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

able  because  of  what  they  have  been  and  because 
of  what  they  might  be  than  because  of  what  they 
now  are."  Seeds  of  a  new  Italy  were  already 
germinating.  They  were  not,  however,  to  yield 
their  fruit  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century. 
Turning  to  the  east  of  France  we  find  Ger- 
many, the  country  that  was  to  be  the  chief  bat- 
tlefield of  Europe  for  many  long  years,  and  that 
was  to  undergo  the  most  surprising  transforma- 
tions. Germany,  like  Italy,  was  a  collection  of 
small  states,  only  these  states  were  far  more  nu- 
merous than  in  the  peninsula  to  the  south.  Ger- 
many had  a  form  of  unity,  at  least  it  pretended 
to  have,  in  the  so-called  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
How  many  states  were  included  in  it,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say;  at  least  360,  if  in  the  reckoning  are 
included  all  the  nobles  who  recognized  no  supe- 
rior save  the  emperor,  who  held  their  power 
directly  from  him  and  were  subject  to  no  one 
else.  There  were  more  than  fifty  free  or  im- 
perial cities,  holding  directly  from  the  emperor 
and  managing  their  own  affairs;  and  numerous 
ecclesiastical  states,  all  independent  of  each 
other.  Then  there  were  small  states  like  Baden 
and  Wiirtemberg  and  Bavaria  and  many  others. 
In  all  this  empire  there  were  only  two  states  of 
any  importance  in  the  general  affairs  of  Europe, 
Prussia  and  Austria, 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  17 

This  empire,  with  its  high-sounding  names, 
"  Holy  "  and  "  Roman,"  was  incredibly  weak  and 
inefficient.  Its  emperor,  not  hereditary  but  elec- 
tive, was  nothing  but  a  pompous,  solemn  pre- 
tense. He  had  no  real  authority,  could  give  no 
orders,  could  create  no  armies,  could  follow  out 
no  policies,  good  or  bad,  for  the  German  princes 
had  during  the  course  of  the  centuries  robbed 
him  of  all  the  usual  and  necessary  attributes  of 
power.  He  was  little  more  than  a  gorgeous 
figure  in  a  pageant.  There  were,  in  addition,  an 
Imperial  Diet  or  national  assembly,  and  an  im- 
perial tribunal,  but  they  were  as  palsied  as  was 
the  emperor. 

What  was  important  in  Germany  was  not  the 
empire,  which  was  powerless  for  defense,  useless 
for  any  serious  purpose,  but  the  separate  states 
that  composed  it,  and  indeed  only  a  few  of  these 
had  any  significance.  All  these  petty  German 
princelings  responded  to  two  emotions.  All 
were  jealous  of  their  independence  and  all  were 
eager  to  annex  each  other's  territory.  They 
never  thought  of  the  interests  of  Germany,  of 
the  empire,  of  the  Fatherland.  What  power 
they  had  they  had  largely  secured  by  despoiling 
the  empire.  Patriotism  was  not  one  of  their 
weaknesses.  Each  was  looking  out  emphatically 
for  himself.  To  make  a  strong,  united  nation 


1 8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

out  of  such  mutually  repellent  atoms  would  be 
nothing  less  than  magical.  The  material  was 
most  unpromising.  Nevertheless  the  feat  has 
been  accomplished,  as  we  shall  see,  although,  as 
in  the  case  of  Italy,  not  until  well  on  into  the 
nineteenth  century. 

The  individual  states  were  everything,  the  em- 
pire was  nothing,  and  with  it  the  French  Revo- 
lutionists and  Napoleon  were  destined  to  play 
great  havoc.  Two  states,  as  has  been  said, 
counted  particularly,  Austria  and  Prussia,  ene- 
mies generally,  rivals  always,  allies  sometimes. 
Austria  was  old  and  famous,  Prussia  really  quite 
new  but  rapidly  acquiring  a  formidable  reputa- 
tion. Then,  as  now,  the  former  was  ruled  by 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  the  latter  by  the  House 
of  Hohenzollern.  There  was  no  Austrian  na- 
tion, but  there  was  the  most  extraordinary  jum- 
ble of  states  and  races  and  languages  to  be  found 
in  Europe,  whose  sole  bond  of  union  was  loyalty 
to  the  reigning  house.  The  Hapsburg  dominions 
were  widely,  loosely  scattered,  though  the  main 
bulk  of  them  was  in  the  Danube  valley.  There 
was  no  common  Austrian  patriotism;  there  were 
Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Milanese,  Netherland- 
ers,  Austrians  proper,  each  with  a  certain  sense 
of  unity,  a  certain  self-consciousness,  but  there 
was  no  single  nation  comprehending,  fusing  all 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  19 

these  elements.  Austria  was  not  like  France  or 
England.  Nevertheless  there  were  twenty-four 
millions  of  people  under  the  direction  of  one  man, 
and  therefore  they  were  an  important  factor  in 
the  politics  of  Europe. 

In  the  case  of  Prussia,  however,  we  have  a  real 
though  still  rudimentary  nation,  hammered  to- 
gether by  hard,  repeated,  well-directed  blows  de- 
livered by  a  series  of  energetic,  ambitious  rulers. 
Prussia  as  a  kingdom  dated  only  from  1701,  but 
the  heart  of  this  state  was  Brandenburg,  and 
Brandenburg  had  begun  a  slow  upward  march  as 
early  as  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  Hohen- 
zollerns  came  from  South  Germany  to  take  con- 
trol of  it.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  pos- 
sessions of  this  family  were  scattered  from  the 
region  of  the  Rhine  to  the  borders  of  Russia. 
How  to  make  them  into  a  single  state,  responsive 
to  a  single  will,  was  the  problem.  In  each  section 
there  were  feudal  estates,  asserting  their  rights 
against  their  ruler.  But  the  Hohenzollerns  had 
a  very  clear  notion  of  what  they  wanted.  They 
wished  and  intended  to  increase  their  own  power 
as  rulers,  to  break  down  all  opposition  within, 
and  without  steadily  to  aggrandize  their  do- 
mains. In  the  realization  of  their  program,  to 
which  they  adhered  tenaciously  from  generation 
to  generation,  they  were  successful.  Prussia 


20  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

grew  larger  and  larger,  the  government  became 
more  and  more  autocratic,  and  the  emphasis  in 
the  state  came  to  be  more  and  more  placed  upon 
the  army.  Mirabeau  was  quite  correct  when  he 
said  that  the  great  national  industry  of  Prussia 
was  war.  Prussian  rulers  were  hard-working, 
generally  conceiving  their  mission  soberly  and 
seriously  as  one  of  service  to  the  state,  not  at  all 
as  one  inviting  to  personal  self-indulgence. 
They  were  hard-headed  and  intelligent  in  de- 
veloping the  economic  resources  of  a  country 
originally  little  favored  by  nature.  They  were 
attentive  to  the  opportunities  afforded  by  Ger- 
man and  European  politics  for  the  advancement 
of  rulers  who  had  the  necessary  intelligence  and 
audacity.  In  the  long  reign  of  Frederick  II, 
called  the  Great  (1740-1786),  and  unquestion- 
ably far  and  away  the  ablest  of  all  the  rulers  of 
the  Hohenzollern  dynasty,  we  see  the  brilliant 
and  faithful  expression  of  the  most  characteristic 
features,  methods,  and  aspirations  of  this  vigor- 
ous royal  house. 

The  successive  monarchs  of  Prussia  justified 
the  extraordinary  emphasis  they  put  upon  mili- 
tary force  by  pointing  to  the  fact  that  their 
country  had  no  natural  boundaries  but  was  sim- 
ply an  undifferentiated  part  of  the  great  sandy 
plain  of  North  Germany,  that  no  river  or  no 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  21 

mountain  range  gave  protection,  that  the  way  of 
the  invader  was  easy.  This  was  quite  true,  but 
it  was  also  equally  true  that  Prussia's  neighbors 
had  no  greater  protection  from  her  than  she  from 
them.  As  far  as  geography  was  concerned,  in- 
vasion of  Prussia  was  no  easier  than  aggression 
from  Prussia.  At  any  rate  every  Prussian  ruler 
felt  himself  first  a  general,  head  of  an  army  which 
it  was  his  pride  to  increase.  Thus  the  Great 
Elector,  who  had  ruled  from  1640  to  1688,  had 
inherited  an  army  of  less  than  4,000  men,  and  had 
bequeathed  one  of  24,000  to  his  successor.  The 
father  of  Frederick  II  had  inherited  one  of 
38,000  and  had  left  one  of  83,000.  Thus  Prussia 
with  a  population  of  two  and  a  half  millions  had 
an  army  of  83,000,  while  Austria  with  a  popula- 
tion of  24,000,000  had  one  of  less  than 
100,000.  With  this  force,  highly  drilled  and 
amply  provided  with  the  sinews  of  war  by  the 
systematic  and  rigorous  economies  of  his  father, 
Frederick  was  destined  to  go  far.  He  is  one  of 
the  few  men  who  have  changed  the  face  of  Eu- 
rope. By  war,  and  the  subsidiary  arts  that  min- 
ister unto  it,  Frederick  pushed  his  small  state 
into  the  very  forefront  of  European  politics. 
Before  his  reign  was  half  over  he  had  made  it 
one  of  the  great  powers,  everywhere  reckoned 
as  such,  although  in  population,  area,  and  wealth, 


22  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

compared  with  the  other  great  powers,  it  was 
small  indeed. 

As  a  youth  all  of  Frederick's  tastes  had  been 
for  letters,  for  art,  for  music,  for  philosophy  and 
the  sciences,  for  conversation,  for  the  delicacies 
and  elegancies  of  culture.  The  French  language 
and  French  literature  were  his  passion  and  re- 
mained his  chief  source  of  enjoyment  all  through 
his  life.  He  wrote  French  verses,  he  hated  mili- 
tary exercises,  he  played  the  flute,  he  detested 
tobacco,  heavy  eating  and  drinking,  and  the  hunt, 
which  appeared  to  his  father  as  the  natural  manly 
and  royal  pleasures.  The  thought  that  this 
youth,  so  indifferent  or  hostile  to  the  stern,  bleak, 
serious  ideals  of  duty  incumbent  upon  the  royal 
house  for  the  welfare  of  Prussia,  so  interested 
in  the  frivolities  and  fripperies  of  life,  so  care- 
lessly self-indulgent,  would  one  day  be  king  and 
would  probably  wreck  the  state  by  his  incom- 
petence and  his  levity,  so  enraged  the  father, 
Frederick  William  I,  a  rough,  boorish,  tyranni- 
cal, hard-working,  and  intensely  patriotic  man, 
that  he  subjected  the  Crown  Prince  to  a  Dra- 
conian discipline  which  at  times  attained  a  pitch 
of  barbarity,  caning  him  in  the  presence  of  the 
army,  boxing  his  ears  before  the  common  people, 
compelling  him  from  a  prison  window  to  witness 
the  execution  of  his  most  intimate  friend,  who 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  23 

had  tried  to  help  him  escape  from  this  odious 
tyranny  by  attempted  flight  from  the  country. 
In  such  a  furnace  was  the  young  prince's 
mettle  steeled,  his  heart  hardened.  Frederick 
came  out  of  this  ordeal  self-contained,  cyni- 
cal, crafty,  but  sobered  and  submissive  to  the 
fierce  paternal  will.  He  did  not,  according  to 
his  father's  expression,  "  kick  or  rear "  again. 
For  several  years  he  buckled  to  the  prosaic  task 
of  learning  his  future  trade  in  the  traditional 
Hohenzollern  manner,  discharging  the  duties  of 
minor  offices,  familiarizing  himself  with  the  dry 
details  of  administration,  and  invested  with 
larger  responsibilities  as  his  reformation  seemed, 
in  the  eyes  of  his  father,  satisfactorily  to  pro- 
gress. 

When  he  came  to  the  throne  in  1740  at  the 
age  of  twenty-eight  he  came  equipped  with  a 
free  and  keen  intellect,  with  a  character  of  iron, 
and  with  an  ambition  that  was  soon  to  set  the 
world  in  flame.  He  ruled  for  forty-six  years 
and  before  half  his  reign  was  over  it  was  evident 
that  he  had  no  peer  in  Europe.  It  was  thought 
that  he  would  adopt  a  manner  of  life  quite  dif- 
ferent from  his  father's.  Instead,  however,  there 
was  the  same  austerity,  the  same  simplicity,  the 
same  intense  devotion  to  work,  the  same  single- 
ness of  aim,  that  aim  being  the  exaltation  of 


24  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Prussia.  The  machinery  of  government  was  not 
altered,  but  it  was  now  driven  at  unprecedented 
speed  by  this  vigorous,  aggressive,  supple  per- 
sonality. For  Frederick  possessed  supreme 
ability  and  displayed  it  from  the  day  of  his 
accession  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was,  as 
Lord  Acton  has  said,  "  the  most  consummate 
practical  genius  that,  in  modern  times,  has  in- 
herited a  throne." 

His  first  important  act  revealed  the  character 
and  the  intentions  of  the  ruler.  For  this  man  who 
as  a  youth  had  loathed  the  life  of  a  soldier  and 
had  shirked  its  obligations  as  long  as  he  could 
was  now  to  prove  himself  one  of  the  great  mili- 
tary commanders  of  the  world's  history.  He 
was  the  most  successful  of  the  robber  barons  in 
which  the  annals  of  Germany  abounded,  and  he 
had  the  ethics  of  the  class.  He  invaded  Silesia, 
a  large  and  rich  province  belonging  to  Austria 
and  recognized  as  hers  by  a  peculiarly  solemn 
treaty  signed  by  Prussia.  But  Frederick  wanted 
it  and  considered  the  moment  opportune  as  an 
inexperienced  young  woman,  Maria  Theresa,  had 
just  ascended  the  Austrian  throne.  "  My  soldiers 
were  ready,  my  purse  was  full,"  said  Frederick 
concerning  this  famous  raid.  Of  all  the  inherit- 
ance of  Maria  Theresa  "  Silesia,"  said  he,  "  was 
that  part  which  was  most  useful  to  the  House  of 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  25 

Brandenburg."  "  Take  what  you  can,"  he  also 
remarked,  "  you  are  never  wrong  unless  you  are 
obliged  to  give  back."  In  these  utterances 
Frederick  paints  himself  and  his  reign  in  im- 
perishable colors.  Success  of  the  most  palpable 
sort  was  his  reward.  Neither  plighted  faith,  nor 
chivalry  toward  a  woman,  nor  any  sense  of  per- 
sonal honor  ever  deterred  him  from  any  policy 
that  might  promise  gain  to  Prussia.  One  would 
scarcely  suspect  from  such  hardy  sentiments 
that  Frederick  had  as  a  young  man  written  a 
treatise  against  the  statecraft  of  Machiavelli. 
That  eminent  Florentine  would,  it  is  safe  to  say, 
have  been  entirely  content  with  the  practical 
precepts  according  to  which  his  titled  critic 
fashioned  his  actual  conduct.  The  true,  authen- 
tic spirit  of  Machiavelli's  political  philosophy 
has  never  been  expressed  with  greater  brevity 
and  precision  than  by  Frederick.  "  If  there  is 
anything  to  be  gained  by  being  honest,  honest 
we  will  be;  and  if  it  is  necessary  to  deceive,  let 
us  be  scoundrels." 

If  there  is  any  defense  for  Frederick's  conduct 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  his  principles  or  his 
lack  of  them  were  shared  by  most  of  his  crowned 
contemporaries  and  by  many  other  rulers  before 
and  since,  he  is  entitled  to  that  defense.  He  him- 
self, however,  was  never  much  concerned  about 


26  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

this  aspect  of  the  matter.  It  was,  in  his  opinion, 
frankly  negligible. 

Frederick  seized  Silesia  with  ease  in  1740,  so 
unexpected  was  the  attack.  He  thus  added  to 
Prussia  a  territory  larger  than  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  combined,  and  a 
population  of  over  a  million  and  a  quarter.  But 
having  seized  it,  he  was  forced  to  fight  intermit- 
tently for  twenty-three  years  before  he  could  be 
sure  of  his  ability  to  retain  it.  The  first  two 
Silesian  wars  (1740-1748)  are  best  known  in  his- 
tory as  the  wars  of  the  Austrian  Succession. 
The  third  was  the  Seven  Years'  War,  a  world 
conflict,  as  we  have  seen,  involving  most  of  the 
great  states  of  Europe,  but  important  to  Fred- 
erick mainly  because  of  its  relation  to  his  reten- 
tion of  Silesia. 

It  was  the  Seven  Years'  War  (1756-1763)  that 
made  the  name  and  fame  of  Frederick  ring 
throughout  the  world.  But  that  deadly  struggle 
several  times  seemed  about  to  engulf  him  and 
his  country  in  utter  ruin.  Had  England  not 
been  his  ally,  aiding  with  her  subsidies 
and  with  her  campaigns  against  France,  in 
Europe,  Asia,  America,  and  on  the  high  seas, 
thus  preventing  that  country  from  fully  co- 
operating against  Prussia,  Frederick  must  have 
failed.  The  odds  against  him  were  stupendous. 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  27 

He,  the  ruler  of  a  petty  state  with  not  more  than 
4,000,000  inhabitants,  was  confronted  by  a 
coalition  of  Austria,  France,  Russia,  Sweden, 
and  many  little  German  states,  with  a  total  popu- 
lation perhaps  twenty  times  as  large  as  Prussia's. 
This  coalition  had  already  arranged  for  the  divi- 
sion of  his  kingdom.  He  was  to  be  left  only 
Brandenburg,  the  primitive  core  of  the  state,  the 
original  territory  given  to  the  House  of  Hohen- 
zollern  in  1415  by  the  emperor. 

Practically  the  entire  continent  was  united 
against  this  little  state  which  a  short  time  be- 
fore had  hardly  entered  into  the  calculations  of 
European  politics.  But  Frederick  was  un- 
daunted. He  overran  Saxony,  a  neutral  country, 
seized  its  treasury  because  he  needed  it,  and,  by 
a  flagrant  breach  of  international  usage,  forced 
its  citizens  to  fight  in  his  armies,  which  were 
thus  considerably  increased.  When  reproached 
for  this  unprecedented  act  he  laconically  replied 
that  he  rather  prided  himself  on  being  original. 

The  war  thus  begun  had  its  violent  ups  and 
downs.  Attacked  from  the  south  by  the  Aus- 
trians,  from  the  east  by  the  Russians,  and  always 
outnumbered,  Frederick,  fighting  a  defensive 
war,  owed  his  salvation  to  the  rapidity  of  his 
manoeuvres,  to  the  slowness  of  those  of  his  ene- 
mies, to  his  generally  superior  tactics,  and  to 


28  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

the  fact  that  there  was  an  entire  lack  of  co- 
ordination among  his  adversaries.  He  won  the 
battle  of  Rossbach  in  1757,  his  most  brilliant 
victory,  whose  fame  has  not  yet  died  away. 
With  an  army  of  only.  20,000  he  defeated  a  com- 
bined French  and  German  army  of  55,000  in  an 
engagement  that  lasted  only  an  hour  and  a 
half,  took  16,000  prisoners,  seventy-two  can- 
non, and  sustained  a  loss  of  less  than  a  thou- 
sand men  himself.  Immense  was  the  enthusi- 
asm evoked  by  this  Prussian  triumph  over 
what  was  reputed  to  be  the  finest  army  in  Eu- 
rope. It  mattered  little  that  the  majority  of  the 
conquered  army  were  Germans.  The  victory 
was  popularly  considered  one  of  Germans  over 
French,  and  such  has  remained  its  reputation 
ever  since  in  the  German  national  consciousness, 
thus  greatly  stirred  and  vivified. 

Two  years  later  Frederick  suffered  an  almost 
equally  disastrous  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  Aus- 
trians  and  Russians  at  Kunersdorf.  "  I  have 
had  two  horses  killed  under  me,"  he  wrote 
the  night  after  this  battle,  "  and  it  is  my  mis- 
fortune that  I  still  live  myself.  ...  Of  an 
army  of  48,000  men  I  have  only  3,000 
left.  ...  I  have  no  more  resources  and,  not  to 
lie  about  it,  I  think  everything  is  lost." 

Later,  after  another  disaster,  he  wrote :    "  I 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  29 

should  like  to  hang  myself,  but  we  must  act  the 
play  to  the  end."  In  this  temper  he  fought  on, 
year  after  year,  through  elation,  through  depres- 
sion, with  defeat  behind  him  and  defeat  staring 
him  in  the  face,  relieved  by  occasional  successes, 
saved  by  the  incompetence  and  folly  of  his  ene- 
mies, then  plunged  in  gloom  again,  but  always 
fighting  for  time  and  for  some  lucky  stroke  of 
fortune,  such  as  the  death  of  a  hostile  sovereign 
with  its  attendant  interruption  or  change  of 
policy.  The  story  is  too  crowded,  too  replete 
with  incident,  to  be  condensed  here.  Only  the 
general  impression  of  a  prolonged,  racking,  des- 
perate struggle  can  be  indicated.  Gritty,  cool, 
alert,  and  agile,  Frederick  managed  to  hold  on 
until  his  enemies  were  ready  and  willing  to  make 
peace. 

He  came  out  of  this  war  with  his  territories 
intact  but  not  increased.  Silesia  he  retained,  but 
Saxony  he  was  forced  to  relinquish.  He  came 
out  of  it,  also,  prematurely  old,  hard,  bitter,  mis- 
anthropic, but  he  had  made  upon  the  world  an 
indelible  impression  of  his  genius.  His  people 
had  been  decimated  and  appallingly  impover- 
ished; nevertheless  he  was  the  victor  and  great 
was  his  renown.  Frederick  had  conquered  Si- 
lesia in  a  month  and  had  then  spent  many  years 
fighting  to  retain  it.  All  that  he  had  won  was 


30  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

fame,  but  that  he  enjoyed  in  full  and  overflowing 
measure. 

Frederick  lived  twenty-three  years  longer, 
years  of  unremitting  and  very  fruitful  toil.  In 
a  hundred  ways  he  sought  to  hasten  the 
recuperation  and  the  development  of  his  sorely 
visited  land,  draining  marshes,  clearing  forests, 
encouraging  industries,  opening  schools,  welcom- 
ing and  favoring  immigrants  from  other  coun- 
tries. Indeed,  over  300,000  of  these  re- 
sponded to  the  various  inducements  offered, 
and  Frederick  founded  more  than  800  vil- 
lages. He  reorganized  the  army,  replenished 
the  public  treasury,  remodeled  the  legal  code. 
In  religious  affairs  he  was  the  most  toler- 
ant ruler  in  Europe,  giving  refuge  to  the  Jesuits 
when  they  were  driven  out  of  Catholic  coun- 
tries— France,  Portugal,  Spain — and  when  their 
order  was  abolished  by  the  Pope  himself.  "  In 
Prussia,"  said  he,  "  every  one  has  the  right  to 
win  salvation  in  his  own  way." 

In  practice  this  was  about  the  only  indubitable 
right  the  individual  possessed,  for  Frederick's 
government  was  unlimited,  although  frequently 
enlightened,  despotism.  His  was  an  absolute 
monarchy,  surrounded  by  a  privileged  nobility, 
resting  upon  an  impotent  mass  of  peasantry. 
His  was  a  militarist  state  and  only  nobles 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  31 

could  become  general  officers.  Laborious,  ris- 
ing at  three  in  summer,  at  four  in  the  winter, 
and  holding  himself  tightly  to  his  mission  as 
"  first  servant  to  the  King  of  Prussia,"  Frederick 
knew  more  drudgery  than  pleasure.  But  he  was 
a  tyrant  to  his  finger  tips,  and  we  do  not  find  in 
the  Prussia  of  his  day  any  room  made  for  that 
spirit  of  freedom  which  was  destined  in  the  im- 
mediate future  to  wrestle  in  Europe  with  this 
outworn  system  of  autocracy. 

In  1772  the  conqueror  of  Silesia  proceeded  to 
gather  new  laurels  of  a  similar  kind.  In  conjunc- 
tion with  the  monarchs  of  Russia  and  Austria 
he  partially  dismembered  Poland,  a  crime  of 
which  the  world  has  not  yet  heard  the  last.  The 
task  was  easy  of  accomplishment,  as  Poland  was 
defenseless.  Frederick  frankly  admitted  that 
the  act  was  that  of  brigands,  and  his  opinion  has 
been  ratified  by  the  general  agreement  of  pos- 
terity. 

When  Frederick  died  in  1786,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-four,  he  left  his  kingdom  nearly  doubled 
in  size  and  with  a  population  more  than  doubled. 
In  all  his  actions  he  thought,  not  of  Germany, 
but  of  Prussia,  always  Prussia.  Germany  was 
an  abstraction  that  had  no  hold  upon  his  practi- 
cal mind.  He  considered  the  German  language 
boorish,  "  a  jargon,  devoid  of  every  grace,"  and 


32  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

he  was  sure  that  Germany  had  no  literature 
worthy  of  the  name.  Nevertheless  he  was  re- 
garded throughout  German  lands,  beyond  Prus- 
sia, as  a  national  hero,  and  he  filled  the  national 
thought  and  imagination  as  no  other  German 
had  done  since  Luther.  His  personality,  his 
ideas,  and  his  methods  became  an  enduring  and 
potent  factor  in  the  development  of  Germany. 

But  the  trouble  with  despotism  as  a  form  of 
government  is  that  a  strong  or  enlightened 
despot  may  so  easily  be  succeeded  by  a  feeble  or 
foolish  one,  as  proved  to  be  the  case  when  Fred- 
erick died  and  was  succeeded  in  1786  by 
Frederick  William  II,  under  whom  and  under 
whose  successor  came  evil  days,  contrasting 
most  unpleasantly  with  the  brilliant  ones  that 
had  gone  before. 

Lying  beyond  Austria  and  Prussia,  stretching 
away  indefinitely  into  the  east,  was  the  other 
remaining  great  power  in  European  politics, 
Russia. 

Though  the  largest  state  on  the  continent, 
Russia  did  not  enter  upon  the  scene  of  European 
politics  as  a  factor  of  importance  until  very  late, 
indeed  until  the  eighteenth  century.  During 
that  century  she  took  her  place  among  the  great 
European  powers  and  her  influence  in  the  world 
has  gone  on  increasing  down  to  the  present  mo- 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  33 

ment.  Her  previous  history  had  been  peculiar, 
differing  in  many  and  fundamental  respects  from 
that  of  her  western  neighbors.  She  had  lived 
apart,  unnoticed  and  unknown.  She  was  con- 
nected with  Europe  by  two  ties,  those  of  race  and 
religion.  The  Russians  were  a  Slavic  people, 
related  to  the  Poles,  the  Bohemians,  the  Serbs, 
and  the  other  branches  of  that  great  family 
which  spreads  over  eastern  Europe.  And  as 
early  as  the  tenth  century  they  had  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  not  to  that  form  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  West,  but  to  the  Orthodox  Greek 
form,  which  had  its  seat  in  Constantinople.  The 
missionaries  who  had  brought  religion  and  at 
the  same  time  the  beginnings  of  civilization  had 
come  from  that  city.  After  the  conquest  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  infidel  Turks  in  1453  the  Rus- 
sians considered  themselves  its  legitimate  heirs, 
the  representatives  of  its  ideas  and  traditions. 
Constantinople  exercised  over  their  imaginations 
a  spell  that  has  only  increased  with  time. 

But  the  great  central  fact  of  Russian  history 
for  hundreds  of  years  was  not  her  connection 
with  Europe,  which,  after  all,  was  slight,  but  her 
connection  with  Asia,  which  was  close  and  pro- 
found in  its  effects.  The  Principality  of  Muscovy, 
as  Russia  was  then  called  from  its  capital  Mos- 
cow, was  conquered  by  the  Mongols,  barbarians 


34  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

from  Asia,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  for 
nearly  three  hundred  years  Russian  princes  paid 
tribute  and  made  occasional  visits  of  submission 
to  the  far-off  Great  Khan.  Though  constantly 
resenting  this  subjection,  they  did  not  escape  its 
effects.  They  themselves  became  half-Asiatic. 
The  men  of  Russia  dressed  in  Oriental  fashion, 
wearing  the  long  robes  with  long  sleeves,  the 
turbans  and  slippers  of  the  East.  They  wore 
their  hair  and  beards  long.  The  women  were 
kept  secluded  and  were  heavily  veiled  when  in 
public.  A  young  girl  saw  her  husband  for  the 
first  time  the  day  of  her  marriage.  There  was 
no  such  thing  as  society  as  we  understand  the 
term.  The  government  was  an  Oriental  tyranny, 
unrestrained,  regardless  of  human  life.  In  ad- 
dressing the  ruler  a  person  must  completely 
prostrate  himself,  his  forehead  touching  the  floor, 
a  difficult  as  well  as  a  degrading  attitude  for  one 
human  being  to  assume  toward  another. 

In  time  the  Russians  threw  off  the  Mongol 
domination,  after  terrible  struggles,  and  them- 
selves in  turn  conquered  northern  Asia,  that  is, 
Siberia.  A  new  royal  house  came  to  the  throne 
in  1613,  the  House  of  Romanoff,  still  the  reign- 
ing family  of  Russia. 

But  the  Russians  continued  to  have  only  the 
feeblest  connection  with  Europe,  knowing  little 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  35 

of  its  civilization,  caring  less,  content  to  vegetate 
in  indolence  and  obscurity.  Out  of  this  dull  and 
laggard  state  they  were  destined  to  be  roughly 
and  emphatically  roused  by  one  of  the  most 
energetic  rulers  known  to  history,  Peter  the 
Great,  whose  reign  of  thirty-six  years  (1689- 
1725)  marks  a  tremendous  epoch,  both  by  what 
it  actually  accomplished  and  by  what  it  indi- 
cated ought  to  be  the  goal  of  national  endeavor. 
As  a  boy  Peter  had  been  given  no  serious  in- 
struction, no  training  in  self-control,  but  had 
been  allowed  to  run  wild,  and  had  picked  up  all 
sorts  of  acquaintances  and  companions,  many  of 
them  foreigners.  It  was  the  chance  association 
with  Europeans  living  in  the  foreign  quarter  of 
Moscow  that  proved  the  decisive  fact  of  his  life, 
shaping  his  entire  career.  From  them  he  got  a 
most  irregular,  haphazard,  but  original  educa- 
tion, learning  a  little  German,  a  little  Dutch, 
some  snatches  of  science,  arithmetic,  geometry. 
His  chief  boyish  interest  was  in  mechanics  and 
its  relation  to  the  military  art.  With  him, 
playing  soldier  was  more  serious  than  with  most 
boys.  He  used  to  build  wooden  fortresses,  sur- 
rounded with  walls  and  moats  and  bastions. 
Some  of  his  friends  would  defend  the  redoubt 
while  he  and  the  others  attacked  it.  Sometimes 
lives  were  lost,  always  some  were  wounded. 


36  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Such  are  the  fortunes  of  war,  though  not  usually 
of  juvenile  war.  "  The  boy  is  amusing  himself," 
was  the  comment  of  his  sister,  who  was  exercis- 
ing the  regency  in  his  name.  Passionately  fond 
of  military  games,  Peter  was  also  absorbingly 
interested  in  boats  and  ships,  and  eagerly  learned 
all  he  could  of  navigation,  which  was  not  much, 
for  the  arts  of  shipbuilding  and  navigation  were 
in  their  very  infancy  in  Russia. 

Learning  that  his  sister  Sophia  was  planning 
to  ignore  his  right  to  the  throne  and  to  become 
ruler  herself,  he  dropped  his  sham  rights  and  his 
sailing,  swept  his  sister  aside  into  a  nunnery,  and 
assumed  control  of  the  state.  Convinced  that 
Europe  was  in  every  way  superior  to  Russia, 
that  Russia  had  everything  to  gain  and  nothing 
to  lose  from  a  knowledge  of  the  ways  and  insti- 
tutions of  the  western  countries,  Peter's  policy 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  reign  was 
to  bring  about  the  closest  possible  connection 
between  his  backward  country  and  the  progres- 
sive and  brilliant  civilization  which  had  been 
built  up  in  England,  France,  Holland,  Italy,  and 
Germany. 

But  even  with  the  best  intentions  this  was  not 
an  easy  task.  For  Russia  had  no  point  of  physi- 
cal contact  with  the  nations  of  western  Europe. 
She  could  not  freely  communicate  with  them, 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  37 

for  between  her  and  them  was  a  wall  consisting 
of  Sweden,  Poland,  and  Turkey.  Russia  was 
nearly  a  land-locked  country.  Sweden  controlled 
all  that  coast-line  along  the  Baltic  which  is  now 
Russian,  Turkey  controlled  all  the  coast-line  of 
the  Black  Sea.  The  only  port  Russia  possessed 
was  far  to  the  north,  at  Archangel,  and  this  was 
frozen  during  nine  months  of  the  year.  To  com- 
municate freely  and  easily  with  the  West,  Russia 
must  "  open  a  window  "  somewhere,  as  Peter  ex- 
pressed it.  Then  the  light  could  stream  in.  He 
must  have  an  ice-free  port  in  European  waters. 
To  secure  this  he  fought  repeated  campaigns 
against  Turkey  and  Sweden.  With  the  latter 
power  there  was  intermittent  war  for  twenty 
years,  very  successful  in  the  end,  though  only 
after  distressing  reverses.  He  conquered  the 
Baltic  Provinces  from  Sweden,  Courland,  Es- 
thonia,  and  Livonia,  and  thus  secured  a  long 
coast-line.  Russia  might  now  have  a  navy  and  a 
merchant  fleet  and  sea-borne  commerce.  "  It  is 
not  land  I  want,  but  water,"  Peter  had  said.  He 
now  had  enough,  at  least  to  begin  with. 

Meanwhile  he  had  sent  fifty  young  Russians 
of  the  best  families  to  England,  Holland,  and 
Venice  to  learn  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  West, 
especially  shipbuilding  and  fortifications.  Later 
he  had  gone  himself  for  the  same  purpose,  to 


38  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

study  on  the  spot  the  civilization  whose  supe- 
riority he  recognized  and  intended  to  impose 
upon  his  own  country,  if  that  were  possible. 
This  was  a  famous  voyage.  Traveling  under  the 
strictest  incognito,  as  "  Peter  Mikailovitch,"  he 
donned  laborer's  clothes  and  worked  for  months 
in  the  shipyards  of  Holland  and  England.  He 
was  interested  in  everything.  He  visited  mills 
and  factories  of  every  kind,  asking  innumerable 
questions:  "What  is  this  for?  How  does  that 
work?  "  He  made  a  sheet  of  paper  with  his  own 
hands.  During  his  hours  of  recreation  he  visited 
museums,  theaters,  hospitals,  galleries.  He  saw 
printing  presses  in  operation,  attended  lectures 
on  anatomy,  studied  surgery  a  little,  and  even 
acquired  some  proficiency  in  the  humble  and  use- 
ful art  of  pulling  teeth.  He  bought  collections 
of  laws,  and  models  of  all  sorts  of  machines,  and 
engaged  many  officers,  mechanics,  printers, 
architects,  sailors,  and  workmen  of  every  kind, 
to  go  to  Russia  to  engage  in  the  task  of  impart- 
ing instruction  to  a  nation  which,  in  Peter's 
opinion,  needed  it  and  should  receive  it,  willy- 
nilly. 

Peter  was  called  home  suddenly  by  the  news 
of  a  revolt  among  the  imperial  troops  devoted 
to  the  old  regime  and  apprehensive  of  the  com- 
ing innovations.  They  were  punished  with  every 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  39 

refinement  of  savage  cruelty,  their  regiments  dis- 
banded, and  a  veritable  reign  of  terror  preceded 
the  introduction  of  the  new  system. 

Then  the  Czar  began  with  energy  his  trans- 
formation of  Russia,  as  he  described  it.  The 
process  continued  all  through  his  reign.  It  was 
not  an  elaborate,  systematic  plan,  deliberately 
worked  out  beforehand,  but  first  this  reform, 
then  that,  was  adopted  and  enforced,  and  in  the 
end  the  sum-total  of  all  these  measures  of  detail 
touched  the  national  life  at  nearly  every  point. 
Some  of  them  concerned  manners  and  customs, 
others  economic  matters,  others  matters  purely 
political.  Peter  at  once  fell  upon  the  long  beards 
and  Oriental  costumes,  which,  in  his  opinion, 
symbolized  the  conservatism  of  Old  Russia, 
which  he  was  resolved  to  shatter.  Arming  him- 
self with  a  pair  of  shears,  he  himself  clipped  the 
liberal  beards  and  mustaches  of  many  of  his 
nobles,  and  cut  their  long  coats  at  the  knee. 
They  must  set  the  style,  and  the  style  must  be 
that  of  France  and  Germany.  Having  given  this 
sensational  exhibition  of  his  imperial  purpose,  he 
then  compromised  somewhat,  allowing  men  to 
wear  their  beards  long,  but  only  on  condition  of 
submitting  to  a  graduated  tax  upon  these 
ornaments.  The  approbation  of  the  Emperor, 
the  compulsion  of  fashion,  combined  with  con- 


40  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

siderations  of  economy,  rapidly  wrought  a  sur- 
prising change  in  the  appearance  of  the  man- 
hood of  Russia.  Barbers  and  tailors  were  sta- 
tioned at  the  entrances  of  towns  to  facilitate 
the  process  by  slashing  the  offending  members 
until  they  conformed  to  European  standards. 
Women  were  forbidden  to  wear  the  veil  and 
were  released  from  the  captivity  of  the  harem, 
or  terem,  as  it  was  called  in  Russia.  Peter 
had  attended  the  "  assemblies  "  of  France  and 
England  and  had  seen  men  and  women  dancing 
and  conversing  together  in  public.  He  now  or- 
dered the  husbands  and  fathers  of  Russia  to 
bring  their  wives  and  daughters  to  all  social 
entertainments.  The  adjustments  were  awk- 
ward at  first,  the  women  frequently  standing  or 
sitting  stiffly  apart  at  one  end  of  the  room,  the 
men  smoking  and  drinking  by  themselves  at  the 
other.  But  finally  society  as  understood  in  Eu- 
rope emerged  from  these  temporary  and  amusing 
difficulties.  Peter  gave  lessons  in  dancing  to 
some  of  his  nobles,  having  himself  acquired  that 
accomplishment  while  on  his  famous  trip.  They 
were  expected,  in  turn,  to  pass  the  secret  on  to 
others. 

The  organs  of  government,  national  and  local, 
were  remodeled  by  the  adoption  of  forms  and 
methods  known  to  Sweden,  Germany,  and  other 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  41 

countries,  and  the  state  became  more  efficient 
and  at  the  same  time  more  powerful.  The  army 
was  enlarged,  equipped,  and  trained  mainly  in 
imitation  of  Germany.  A  navy  was  created  and 
the  importance  of  the  sea  to  the  general  life  of 
the  nation  gradually  dawned  upon  the  popular 
intelligence.  The  economic  development  of  the 
country  was  begun,  factories  were  established, 
mines  were  opened,  and  canals  were  cut.  The 
church  was  brought  into  closer  subjection  to  the 
state.  Measures  were  taken  against  vagabond- 
age and  robbery,  widely  prevalent  evils.  Edu- 
cation of  a  practical  sort  was  encouraged.  The 
Julian  calendar  was  introduced  and  is  still  in 
force,  though  the  other  nations  of  Europe  have 
since  adopted  another  and  more  accurate  chro- 
nology. Peter  even  undertook  to  reform  the 
language  of  Russia,  striking  out  eight  of  the 
more  cumbersome  letters  of  the  alphabet  and 
simplifying  the  form  of  some  of  the  others. 

All  these  changes  encountered  resistance,  re- 
sistance born  of  indolence,  of  natural  conserva- 
tism, of  religious  scruples — was  it  not  impious 
for  Holy  Russia  to  abandon  her  native  customs 
and  to  imitate  the  heretics  of  the  West?  But 
Peter  went  on  smashing  his  way  through  as  best 
he  could,  crushing  opposition  by  fair  means  and 
by  foul,  for  the  quality  of  the  means  was  a  mat- 


42  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ter  of  indifference  to  him,  if  only  they  were  suc- 
cessful. Here  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  man 
who,  himself  a  semi-barbarian,  was  bent  upon 
civilizing  men  more  barbarous  than  he. 

As  the  ancient  capital,  Moscow,  was  the 
stronghold  of  stiff  conservatism,  was  wedded 
to  the  old  ideas  and  customs,  Peter  resolved 
to  build  a  new  capital  on  the  Baltic.  There, 
on  islands  and  marshes  at  the  mouth  of  a  river 
which  frequently  overflowed,  he  built  at  fright- 
ful cost  in  human  life  and  suffering  the  city  of 
St.  Petersburg.  Everything  had  to  be  created 
literally  from  the  ground  up.  Forests  of  piles 
had  to  be  driven  into  the  slime  to  the  solid 
earth  beneath  to  furnish  the  secure  foundations. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  soldiers  and  peasants  were 
drafted  for  the  work.  At  first  they  had  no 
implements,  but  were  forced  to  dig  with  sticks 
and  carry  the  rubbish  away  in  their  coats. 
No  adequate  provisions  were  made  for  them; 
they  slept  unprotected  in  the  open  air,  their 
food  was  insufficient  and  they  died  by  thou- 
sands, only  to  be  replaced  by  other  thousands. 
All  through  the  reign  the  desperate,  rough 
process  went  on.  The  will  of  the  autocrat,  rich  in 
expedients,  triumphed  over  all  obstacles.  Every 
great  landowner  was  required  to  build  in  the  city 
a  residence  of  a  certain  size  and  style.  No  ship 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE      43 

might  enter  without  bringing  a  certain  quantity 
of  stone  for  building  purposes.  St.  Petersburg 
was  cut  by  numerous  canals,  as  were  the  cities 
of  Holland.  The  Czar  required  the  nobles  to 
possess  boats.  Some  of  them,  not  proficient  in 
the  handling  of  these  novel  craft,  were  drowned. 
Toward  the  close  of  his  reign  Peter  transferred 
the  government  to  this  city  which  stood  on  the 
banks  of  the  Neva,  a  monument  to  his  imagina- 
tion, his  energy,  and  his  persistence,  a  city  with 
no  hampering  traditions,  with  no  past,  but  with 
only  an  untrammeled  future,  an  appropriate  ex- 
pression of  the  spirit  of  the  New  Russia  which 
Peter  was  laboring  to  create. 

He  was,  indeed,  a  strange  leader  for  a  people 
which  needed  above  all  to  shake  itself  free  from 
what  was  raw  and  crude,  he  was  himself  so  raw 
and  crude.  A  man  of  violent  passions,  capable  and 
guilty  of  orgies  of  dissipation,  of  acts  of  savage 
cruelty,  hard  and  fiendish  in  his  treatment  even 
of  those  nearest  to  him,  his  sister,  his  wife,  and 
his  son,  using  willingly  as  instruments  of  prog- 
ress the  atrocious  knout  and  wheel  and  stake, 
Peter  was  neither  a  model  ruler,  nor  a  model  man. 
Yet,  with  all  these  traits  of  primal  barbarism  in 
his  nature,  he  had  many  redeeming  points.  Good- 
humored,  frank,  and  companionable  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  he  was  entirely  natural,  as 


44  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

loyal  in  his  friendships  as  he  was  bitter  in  his 
enmities.  Masterful,  titanic,  there  was  in  him  a 
wild  vitality,  an  immense  energy,  and  he  was 
great  in  the  singleness  of  his  aim.  He  did  not 
succeed  in  transforming  Russia;  that  could  not 
be  accomplished  in  one  generation  or  in  two. 
But  he  left  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand 
men,  he  connected  Russia  with  the  sea  by  the 
coast-line  of  the  Baltic,  thus  opening  a  contact 
with  countries  that  were  more  advanced,  intel- 
lectually and  socially,  and  he  raised  a  standard 
and  started  a  tradition. 

Then  followed,  upon  his  death,  a  series  of  me- 
diocre rulers,  under  whom  it  seemed  likely  that 
the  ground  gained  might  be  lost.  But  under 
Elizabeth  (1741-1762)  Russia  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  thus  showing 
her  altered  position  in  Europe,  and  with  the  ad- 
vent of  Catherine  II  (1762-1796)  the  process  of 
Europeanizing  Russia  and  of  expanding  her  ter- 
ritories and  magnifying  her  position  in  inter- 
national politics  was  resumed  with  vigor  and 
carried  out  with  success. 

Catherine  was  a  German  princess,  the  wife  of 
the  Czar  Peter  III,  who,  proving  a  worthless 
ruler,  was  deposed,  after  a  reign  of  a  few  months, 
then  done  to  death,  probably  with  the  connivance 
of  his  wife.  Catherine  became  empress,  and  for 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  45 

thirty-four  years  ruled  Russia  with  an  iron  hand. 
Fond  of  pleasure,  fond  of  work,  a  woman  of 
intellectual  tastes,  or  at  least  pretensions,  which 
she  satisfied  by  intimate  correspondence  with 
Voltaire,  Diderot,  and  other  French  philosophers 
of  the  day,  being  rewarded  for  her  condescension 
and  her  favors  by  their  enthusiastic  praise  of  her 
as  the  "  Semiramis  of  the  North,"  Catherine 
passes  as  one  of  the  enlightened  despots  of  her 
century.  Being  of  western  birth,  she  naturally 
sympathized  with  the  policy  of  introducing 
western  civilization  into  Russia,  and  gave  that 
policy  her  vigorous  support. 

But  her  chief  significance  in  history  is  her  for- 
eign policy.  Three  countries,  we  have  seen, 
stood  between  Russia  and  the  countries  of  west- 
ern Europe,  Sweden,  Poland,  and  Turkey.  Peter 
had  conquered  the  first  and  secured  the  water 
route  by  the  Baltic.  Catherine  devoted  her  en- 
tire reign  to  conquering  the  other  two.  The 
former  she  accomplished  by  infamous  means  and 
with  rare  completeness.  By  the  end  of  her  reign 
Poland  had  been  utterly  destroyed  and  Russia 
had  pushed  her  boundaries  far  westward  until 
they  touched  those  of  Prussia  and  Austria. 
Catherine  was  not  able  to  dismember  Turkey  as 
Poland  was  dismembered,  but  she  gained  from 
her  the  Crimea  and  the  northern  shores  of  the 


46  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Black  Sea  from  the  Caucasus  to  the  Dniester. 
She  had  even  dreamed  of  driving  the  Turk  en- 
tirely from  Europe  and  of  extending  her  own 
influence  down  to  the  Mediterranean  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Byzantine  empire  that  should 
be  dependent  upon  Russia.  But  any  dream  of 
getting  to  Constantinople  was  a  dream  indeed, 
as  the  troubled  history  of  a  subsequent  century 
was  to  show.  Henceforth,  however,  Europe 
could  count  on  one  thing  with  certainty,  namely, 
that  Russia  would  be  a  factor  to  be  considered 
in  any  rearrangement  of  the  map  of  the  Balkan 
peninsula,  in  any  determination  of  the  Eastern 
question. 

This  rise  of  Russia,  like  the  rise  of  Prussia,  to 
a  position  of  commanding  importance,  in  Euro- 
pean politics,  was  the  work  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Both  were  characteristic  products  of 
that  age. 

The  more  one  examines  in  general  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  the  policies  which  they  followed  or  at- 
tempted to  follow,  the  less  is  one  impressed 
with  either  their  wisdom  or  their  morality.  The 
control  was  everywhere  in  the  hands  of  the 
few  and  was  everywhere  directed  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  few.  The  idea  that  it  was  the  first 
duty  of  the  state  to  assure,  if  possible,  the 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  47 

welfare  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
was  not  the  idea  recognized  in  actual  prac- 
tice. The  first  duty  of  the  state  was  to  in- 
crease its  dominions  by  hook  or  crook,  and  to 
provide  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  rulers  and  the 
privileged  classes.  One  could  find  in  all  Europe 
hardly  a  trace  of  what  we  call  democracy.  Eu- 
rope was  organized  aristocratically,  and  for  the 
benefit  of  aristocracies.  This  was  true  even  in 
such  a  country  as  England,  which  had  a  parlia- 
ment and  established  liberties;  even  in  republics, 
like  Venice  or  Genoa  or  the  cantons  of  Switzer- 
land. 

The  condition  of  the  vast  mass  of  the  people 
in  every  country  was  the  thing  least  considered. 
It  was  everywhere  deplorable,  though  varying, 
more  or  less,  in  different  countries.  The  masses, 
who  were  peasants,  were  weighed  down  and 
hemmed  in  by  laws  and  institutions  and  customs 
that  took  no  account  of  their  well-being.  In  one 
way  or  another  they  were  outrageously  taxed,  so 
that  but  a  small  fraction  of  what  they  earned 
went  for  their  own  support.  Throughout  most 
of  Europe  they  did  not  possess  what  we  regard  as 
the  mere  beginnings  of  personal  liberty,  for,  ex- 
cept in  England  and  France,  serfdom,  with  all  its 
paralyzing  restrictions,  was  in  force.  No  one 
dreamed  that  the  people  were  entitled  to  educa- 


48  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

tion  so  that  they  might  be  better  equipped  for 
life.  The  great  substructure  of  European  so- 
ciety was  an  unhappy,  unfree,  unprotected,  un- 
developed mass  of  human  beings,  to  whom  op- 
portunity for  growth  and  improvement  was 
closed  on  every  side. 

If  the  governments  of  Europe  did  not  seriously 
consider  the  interests  of  the  most  numerous  and 
weakest  class,  on  whose  well-being  depended  ab- 
solutely the  ultimate  well-being  of  the  nations, 
did  they  discharge  their  other  obligations  with 
any  greater  understanding  or  sense  of  justice? 
It  cannot  be  said  that  they  did.  The  distempers 
in  every  state  were  numerous  and  alarming. 
The  writings  of  contemporaries  abound  in 
gloomy  prophecies.  There  was  a  widespread 
feeling  that  revolutions,  catastrophes,  ruin  were 
impending,  that  the  body  politic  was  nowhere  in 
sound  condition.  Excessive  expenditures  for  the 
maintenance  of  extravagant  courts,  for  sump- 
tuous buildings,  for  favorites  of  every  stripe  and 
feather,  excessive  expenditures  for  armies  and 
for  wars,  which  were  frequent,  resulted  in  in- 
creasing disorder  in  the  finances  of  the  various 
nations.  States  resorted  more  and  more  to  loans, 
with  the  result  that  the  income  had  to  go  for  the 
payment  of  the  interest.  Deficits  were  chronic, 
and  no  country  except  England  had  a  budget,  or 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  49 

public  and  official  statement  of  expenditures  and 
receipts.  Taxes  were  increasing  and  were  de- 
testably distributed.  Everywhere  in  Europe  the 
richer  a  man  was  the  less  he  paid  proportionately. 
As  new  taxes  were  imposed,  exemptions,  com- 
plete or  partial,  went  with  them,  and  the  exemp- 
tions were  for  the  nobility  and,  in  part,  for  the 
middle  classes,  where  such  existed.  Crushing 
therefore  was  the  burden  of  the  lower  orders. 
It  was  truly  a  vicious  circle. 

These  evils  were  so  apparent  that  now  and 
then  they  prompted  the  governing  authorities  to 
attempt  reform.  Several  rulers  in  various  coun- 
tries made  earnest  efforts  to  improve  conditions. 
These  were  the  "  benevolent  despots "  of  the 
eighteenth  century  who  tried  reform  from  above 
before  the  French  tried  it  from  below.  On  the 
whole  they  had  no  great  or  permanent  success, 
and  the  need  of  thoroughgoing  changes  remained 
to  trouble  the  future. 

Not  only  were  the  governments  of  Europe 
generally  inefficient  in  all  that  concerned  the  full, 
symmetrical  development  of  the  economic,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral  resources  of  the  people,  not 
only  were  they  generally  repressive  and  oppres- 
sive, allowing  little  scope  to  the  principle  of  lib- 
erty, but  they  were,  in  their  relations  to  each 
Other,  unprincipled,  unscrupulous.  The  state 


50  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

was  conceived  as  force,  not  at  all  as  a  moral 
being,  subject  to  moral  obligations  and  re- 
straints. The  glory  of  rulers  consisted  in  extend- 
ing the  boundaries  of  their  states,  regardless  of 
the  rights  of  other  peoples,  regardless  even  of 
the  rights  of  other  rulers.  The  code  that  gov- 
erned their  relations  with  each  other  was  primi- 
tive indeed.  Any  means  were  legitimate,  success 
was  the  only  standard  of  right  or  wrong.  "  He 
who  gains  nothing,  loses,"  wrote  Catherine  of 
Russia,  one  of  the  "  enlightened  "  despots.  The 
dominant  idea  in  all  government  circles  was  that 
the  greatness  of  the  state  was  in  proportion  to 
its  territorial  extent,  not  in  proportion  to  the 
freedom,  the  prosperity,  the  education  of  its 
people.  The  prevalence  of  this  idea  brought  it 
about  that  every  nation  sought  to  be  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  any  weakness  or  distress  that 
might  appear  in  the  situation  of  its  neighbors. 
Armies  must  be  constantly  at  hand  and  diplo- 
macy must  be  ready  for  any  scurvy  trick  or  in- 
famous crime  that  might  promise  hope  of  gain. 
It  followed  that  treaties  were  to  be  broken  when- 
ever there  was  any  advantage  in  breaking  them. 
"  It  is  a  mistake  to  break  your  word  without 
reason,"  said  Frederick  II,  "  for  thus  you  gain 
the  reputation  of  being  light  and  fickle."  To 
keep  faith  with  each  other  was  no  duty  of  rulers. 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  51 

There  was  consequently  no  certainty  in  inter- 
national agreements. 

This  indifference  to  solemn  promises  was  noth- 
ing new.  The  eighteenth  century  was  full  of 
flagrant  violations  of  most  explicit  international 
agreements.  There  was  no  honor  among  na- 
tions. No  state  had  any  rights  which  any  other 
state  was  bound  to  respect.  These  monarchs, 
"enlightened  "  and  "  benevolent  "  or  not,  as  the 
case  might  be,  all  agreed  that  they  ruled  by  di- 
vine right,  by  the  will  of  God.  Yet  this  decidedly 
imposing  origin  of  their  authority  gave  them 
no  sense  of  security  in  their  relations  with  each 
other,  nor  did  it  give  to  their  reigns  any  ex- 
ceptional purity  or  unworldly  character.  The 
maxims  of  statecraft  which  they  followed  were 
of  the  earth  earthy.  While  bent  upon  increasing 
their  own  power  they  did  not  neglect  the  study 
of  the  art  of  undermining  each  other's  power, 
however  divinely  buttressed  in  theory  it  might 
be.  Monarchs  were  dethroned,  states  were 
extinguished,  boundaries  were  changed  and 
changed  again,  as  the  result  of  aggressive  wars, 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  Moreover  the 
wars  of  that  time  were  famous  for  the  exactions 
of  the  victors  and  for  the  scandalous  fortunes 
made  by  some  of  the  commanders.  It  was  not 
the  French  Revolutionists  nor  was  it  Napoleon 


52  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

who  introduced  these  customs  into  Europe. 
They  could  not,  had  they  tried,  have  lowered  the 
tone  of  war  or  statecraft  in  Europe.  At  the 
worst  they  might  only  imitate  their  predecessors. 
The  Old  Regime  in  Europe  was  to  be  brought 
tumbling  down  in  unutterable  confusion  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  storm  which  was  brewing  in  France 
and  which  we  are  now  to  study.  But  that  regime 
had  been  undermined,  the  props  that  supported 
it  had  been  destroyed,  by  its  own  official  bene- 
ficiaries and  defenders.  The  Old  Regime  was 
disloyal  to  the  very  principles  on  which  it  rested, 
respect  for  the  established  order,  for  what  was 
old  and  traditional,  for  what  had  come  down 
from  the  past,  regard  for  legality,  for  engage- 
ments, loyalty  to  those  in  authority.  How  little 
regard  the  monarchs  of  Europe  themselves  had 
for  principles  which  they  were  accustomed  to 
pronounce  sacred,  for  principles  in  which  alone 
lay  their  own  safety,  was  shown  by  the  part 
they  played  in  the  great  events  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  already  alluded  to,  the  war  of 
the  Austrian  Succession,  and  the  Partition  of 
Poland.  By  the  first  the  ruler  of  Austria, 
Maria  Theresa,  was  robbed  of  the  large  and 
valuable  province  of  Silesia  by  Prussia,  aided 
by  France,  both  of  which  states  had  recently 
signed  a  peculiarly  solemn  treaty  called  the 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  EUROPE  53 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  by  which  her  rights  had 
been  explicitly  and  emphatically  recognized. 
Frederick  II,  however,  wanted  the  province,  took 
it,  and  kept  it.  This  case  shows  how  lightly 
monarchs  regarded  legal  obligations,  when  they 
conflicted  with  their  ambitions. 

The  other  case,  the  Partition  of  Poland,  was 
the  most  iniquitous  act  of  the  century.  Poland 
was  in  geographical  extent  the  largest  state  in 
Europe,  next  to  Russia.  Its  history  ran  far  back. 
But  its  government  was  utterly  weak.  There- 
fore in  1772  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia  at- 
tacked it  for  no  cause  save  their  own  cupidity, 
and  tore  great  fragments  away,  annexing  them 
to  their  own  territories.  Twenty  years  later  they 
completed  the  process  in  two  additional  parti- 
tions, in  1793  and  1795,  thus  entirely  annihilat- 
ing an  ancient  state.  This  shows  how  much  re- 
gard the  monarchs  of  Europe  had  for  established 
institutions,  for  established  authorities. 

Two  things  only  counted  in  Old  Europe — 
force  and  will,  the  will  of  the  sovereign.  But 
force  and  will  may  be  used  quite  as  easily  for 
revolution,  for  the  overthrow  of  what  is  old  and 
sacred,  as  for  its  preservation.  There  need  be 
no  surprise  at  anything  that  we  may  find  Napo- 
leon doing.  He  had  a  sufficient  pattern  and 
exemplar  in  Frederick  the  Great  and  in  Catherine 


54  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

of    Russia,    only    recently    deceased    when    his 
meteoric  career  began. 

The  eighteenth  century  attained  its  legitimate 
climax  in  its  closing  decade,  a  very  memorable 
period  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  Old 
Regime  in  Europe  was  rudely  shattered  by  the 
overthrow  of  the  Old  Regime  in  France,  which 
country,  by  its  astonishing  actions,  was  to  domi- 
nate the  next  quarter  of  a  century. 


THE  PARTITION 
OF  POLAND 


— )  by  R  ussia  tZH  by  Austria 

erritories  taken  by  Prussia 


THE  French  Revolution  brought  with  it  a  new 
conception  of  the  state,  new  principles  of  politics 
and  of  society,  a  new  outlook  upon  life,  a  new 
faith  which  seized  the  imagination  of  multitudes, 
inspiring  them  with  intense  enthusiasm,  arous- 
ing boundless  hopes,  and  precipitating  a  long  and 
passionate  struggle  with  all  those  who  feared  or 
hated  innovation,  who  were  satisfied  with  things 
as  they  were,  who  found  their  own  conditions  of 
life  comfortable  and  did  not  wish  to  be  disturbed. 
Soon  France  and  Europe  were  divided  into  two 
camps,  the  reformers  and  the  conservatives, 
those  believing  in  radical  changes  along  many 
lines  and  those  who  believed  in  preserving  what 
was  old  and  tried,  either  because  they  profited 
by  it  or  because  they  felt  that  men  were  happier 
and  more  prosperous  in  living  under  conditions 
and  with  institutions  to  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed than  under  those  that  might  be  ideally 
more  perfect  but  would  at  any  rate  be  strange 
and  novel  and  uncertain. 

In  order  to  understand  the  French  Revolution 

55 


56  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

it  is  necessary  to  examine  the  conditions  and  in- 
stitutions of  France  out  of  which  it  grew;  in 
other  words,  the  Old  Regime.  Only  thus  can 
we  get  our  sense  of  perspective,  our  standard  of 
values  and  of  criticism.  The  Revolution  accom- 
plished a  sweeping  transformation  in  the  life  of 
France.  Putting  it  in  a  single  phrase  it  accom- 
plished the  transition  from  the  feudal  system  of 
the  preceding  centuries  to  the  democratic  system 
of  the  modern  world.  The  entire  structure  of 
the  French  state  and  of  French  society  was  re- 
modeled and  planted  on  new  and  far-reaching 
principles. 

The  essence  of  the  feudal  system  was  class 
divisions  and  acknowledged  privileges  for  all 
classes  above  the  lowest.  The  essence  of  the  new 
system  is  the  removal  of  class  distinctions,  the 
abolition  of  privileges,  the  introduction  of  the 
principle  of  the  equality  of  men,  wherever  pos- 
sible. 

What  strikes  one  most  in  contemplating  the 
Old  Regime  is  the  prevalence  and  the  oppressive- 
ness of  the  privileges  that  various  classes  en- 
joyed. Society  was  simply  honeycombed  with 
them.  They  affected  life  constantly  and  at  every 
point.  It  is  not  an  easy  society  to  describe  in 
a  few  words,  for  the  variations  were  almost  end- 
less. But,  broadly  speaking,  and  leaving  details 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  57 

aside,  French  society  was  graded  from  top  to 
bottom,  and  each  grade  differed,  in  legal  rights, 
in  opportunities  for  enjoyment  and  development, 
in  power. 

The  system  culminated  in  the  monarch,  the 
lofty  and  glittering  head  of  the  state,  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  might  and  the  majesty  of  the  nation. 
The  king  claimed  to  rule  by  the  will  of  God,  that 
is,  by  divine  right,  not  at  all  by  the  consent  of 
the  people.  He  was  responsible  to  no  one  but 
God.  Consequently  in  the  actual  conduct  of  his 
office  he  was  subject  to  no  control.  He  was  an 
absolute  monarch.  He  could  do  as  he  chose.  It 
was  for  the  nation  to  obey.  The  will  of  the  king 
and  that  alone  was,  in  theory,  the  only  thing  that 
counted.  It  determined  what  the  law  should  be 
that  should  govern  twenty-five  million  French- 
men in  their  daily  lives.  "  This  thing  is 
legal  because  I  wish  it,"  said  Louis  XVI,  thus 
stating  in  a  single  phrase  the  nature  of  the  mon- 
archy, the  theory,  and  the  practice  also,  if  the 
monarch  happened  to  be  a  strong  man.  The 
king  made  the  laws,  he  levied  the  taxes,  he  spent 
them  as  he  saw  fit,  he  declared  wars,  made  peace, 
contracted  alliances  according  to  his  own  inclina- 
tion. There  was  in  theory  no  restriction  upon 
his  power,  and  all  his  subjects  lay  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand.  He  could  seize  their  property;  he 


58  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

could  imprison  them  by  a  mere  order,  a  lettre  de 
cachet,  without  trial,  and  for  such  a  period  as  he 
desired;  he  could  control,  if  not  their  thoughts, 
at  least  the  expression  of  them,  for  his  censor- 
ship of  the  press,  whether  employed  in  the  publi- 
cation of  books  or  newspapers,  could  muzzle 
them  absolutely. 

So  commanding  a  figure  required  a  broad  and 
ample  stage  for  the  part  he  was  to  play,  a  rich  and 
spacious  background.  Never  was  a  being  more 
sumptuously  housed.  While  Paris  was  the  capi- 
tal of  France,  the  king  resided  twelve  miles  away 
amid  the  splendors  of  Versailles.  There  he  lived 
and  moved  and  had  his  being  in  a  palace  that 
was  the  envy  of  every  other  king  in  Christen- 
dom, a  monumental  pile,  with  its  hundreds  of 
rooms,  its  chapel,  theater,  dining  halls,  salons, 
and  endless  suites  of  apartments  for  its  distin- 
guished occupants,  the  royal  family,  its  hundreds 
of  servants  and  its  guests.  This  mammoth  resi- 
dence had  been  built  a  century  before  at  an  ex- 
pense of  about  a  hundred  million  dollars  in  terms 
of  our  money  today,  an  imposing  setting  for  a 
most  brilliant  and  numerous  court,  lending  itself, 
with  its  miles  of  corridors,  of  walks  through  end- 
less formal  gardens  studded  with  statues,  foun- 
tains, and  artificial  lakes,  to  all  the  pomp  and 
pageantry  of  power.  For  the  court  which  so 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  59 

dazzled  Europe  was  composed  of  18,000  people, 
perhaps  16,000  of  whom  were  attached  to  the 
personal  service  of  the  king  and  his  family,  2,000 
being  courtiers,  the  favored  guests  of  the  house, 
nobles  who  were  engaged  in  a  perpetual  round  of 
pleasures  and  who  were  also  busily  feathering 
their  own  nests  by  soliciting,  of  course  in  polished 
and  subtle  ways,  the  favors  that  streamed  from  a 
lavish  throne.  Luxury  was  everywhere  the  pre- 
vailing note.  Well  may  the  occupants  of  the  pal- 
ace have  considered  themselves,  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  the  darlings  of  the  gods,  for  earth  had  not 
anything  to  show  more  costly.  The  king,  the 
queen,  the  royal  children,  the  king's  brothers  and 
sisters  and  aunts  all  had  their  separate  establish- 
ments under  the  spacious  roof.  The  queen  alone 
had  500  servants.  The  royal  stables  contained 
nearly  1,900  horses  and  more  than  200  carriages, 
and  the  annual  cost  of  this  service  alone  was  the 
equivalent  of  $4,000,000.  The  king's  own  table 
cost  more  than  a  million  and  a  half.  As  gaiety 
was  unconfmed,  so  necessarily  was  the  expendi- 
ture that  kept  it  going,  for  every  one  in  this 
household  secured  what,  in  the  parlance  of  our 
vulgar  democracy,  is  called  a  handsome  "  rake- 
off."  Thus  ladies-in-waiting  secured  about 
$30,000  each  by  the  privilege  they  enjoyed 
of  selling  the  candles  that  had  once 


60  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

lighted  but  not  used  up.  Queen  Marie  Antoinette 
had  four  pairs  of  shoes  a  week,  which  constituted 
a  profitable  business  for  somebody.  In  1789  the 
total  cost  of  all  this  riot  of  extravagance 
amounted  to  not  far  from  $20,000,000.  No  won- 
der that  men  spoke  of  the  court  as  the  veritable 
nation's  grave. 

Not  only  were  the  King's  household  expenses 
pitched  to  this  exalted  scale,  but,  in  addition,  he 
gave  money  or  appointments  or  pensions  freely, 
as  to  the  manner  born,  to  those  who  gained  his 
approbation  and  his  favor.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  in  the  fifteen  years  between  1774,  when 
Louis  XVI  came  to  the  throne,  and  1789,  when 
the  whirlwind  began,  the  King  thus  presented  to 
favorites  the  equivalent  of  more  than  a  hundred 
million  dollars  of  our  money.  For  those  who 
basked  in  such  sunshine  it  was  unquestionably 
a  golden  age. 

Such  was  the  dazzling  apex  of  a  state  edifice 
that  was  rickety  in  the  extreme.  For  the  govern- 
ment of  France  was  ill-constructed  and  the  times 
were  decidedly  out  of  joint.  That  government 
was  not  a  miracle  of  design,  but  of  the  lack 
of  it.  Complicated,  ill-adjusted,  the  various 
branches  dimly  defined  or  overlapping,  it  was 
thoroughly  unscientific  and  inefficient.  The  king 
was  assisted  by  five  councils  which  framed  the 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  61 

laws,  issued  the  orders,  conducted  the  business 
of  the  state,  domestic  and  foreign,  at  the  capital. 
Then  for  purposes  of  local  government  France 
was  split  up  into  divisions,  but,  unfortunately, 
not  into  a  single,  simple  set.  There  were  forty 
"  governments,"  so  called,  thirty-two  of  which 
corresponded  closely  to  the  old  provinces  of 
France,  the  outcome  of  her  feudal  history.  But 
those  forty  "  governments  "  belied  their  name. 
They  did  little  governing,  but  they  furnished 
many  lucrative  offices  for  the  higher  nobility  who 
were  appointed  "  governors  "  and  who  resided 
generally  in  Versailles,  contributing  their  part 
to  the  magnificent  ceremonial  of  that  showy  pa- 
rade ground. 

The  real,  prosaic  work  was  done  in  the  thirty- 
six  "  generalities,"  as  another  set  of  divisions 
was  called.  Over  each  of  these  was  an  intendant 
who  was  generally  of  the  middle  or  bourgeois 
class,  accustomed  to  work.  These  intendants 
were  appointed  by  the  king  to  carry  on  the  royal 
government,  each  in  his  own  district.  They 
generally  did  not  originate  much,  but  they  car- 
ried out  the  orders  that  came  from  the  capital 
and  made  their  reports  to  it.  Their  power  was 
practically  unrestricted.  Upon  them  depended 
in  large  measure  the  happiness  or  the  misery  of 
the  provinces.  Judging  from  the  fact  that  most 


62  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

of  them  were  very  unpopular,  it  must  be  admit- 
ted that  this,  the  real  working  part  of  the  na- 
tional government,  did  not  contribute  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people.  The  intendants  were  rather 
the  docile  tools  of  the  misgovernment  which 
issued  from  the  five  councils  which  were  the  five 
fingers  of  the  king.  As  the  head  is,  so  are  the 
members,  and  the  officials  under  the  intendants 
for  the  smaller  local  areas  enjoyed  the  disesteem 
evoked  by  the  oppressive  or  unjust  policies  of 
their  superiors. 

Speaking  broadly,  local  self-government  did 
not  exist  in  France,  but  the  local,  like  the  na- 
tional, government  was  directed  and  determined 
in  Versailles.  Were  a  bridge  to  be  repaired  over 
some  little  stream  hundreds  of  miles  from  Paris, 
were  a  new  roof  required  for  a  village  church, 
the  matter  was  regulated  from  Paris,  after  ex- 
asperating delay.  It  was  the  reign  of  the  red 
tape  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  The  people 
stood  like  dumb,  driven  cattle  before  this  mon- 
strous system.  The  only  danger  lay  in  the 
chance  that  they  might  not  always  remain 
dumb.  Here  obviously  was  no  school  for  popular 
political  education — a  fact  which  explains  many 
of  the  mistakes  and  failures  of  the  people  when, 
in  the  Revolution,  they  themselves  undertook  to 
rule,  the  monarchy  having  failed  egregiously  to 


FRANCE 

BEFORE   THE  REVOLUTION 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  63 

discharge  its  functions  either  efficiently  or  benefi- 
cently. 

Let  no  one  suppose  that  because  France  was  a 
highly  centralized  monarchy,  culminating  in  the 
person  of  the  king,  that  therefore  the  French 
government  was  a  real  unity.  Nothing  could  be 
further  from  the  truth.  To  study  in  detail  the 
various  aspects  of  the  royal  government,  its  divi- 
sions and  subdivisions,  its  standards,  its  agents, 
its  methods  of  procedure,  is  to  enter  a  lane  where 
the  mind  quickly  becomes  hopelessly  bewildered, 
so  great  was  the  diversity  in  the  machinery  em- 
ployed, so  varied  were  the  terms  in  use.  Uni- 
formity was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  There  was 
unity  in  the  person  of  the  king,  necessarily,  and 
there  only.  Everywhere  else  disunity,  diversity, 
variety,  without  rhyme  or  reason.  It  would  take 
a  volume  or  many  volumes  to  make  this  clear — 
even  then  the  reader  would  be  driven  to  despair 
in  attempting  to  form  a  true  mental  picture  of 
the  situation.  The  institutions  of  France  were 
a  hodge-podge — chaos  erected  into  a  system, 
with  no  loss  of  the  chaotic,  and  with  no  system. 
Nowadays  the  same  laws,  the  same  taxes,  the 
same  weights  and  measures  prevail  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  But  in  1789 
no  such  simplicity  or  equality  prevailed.  Weights 
and  measures  had  different  names  and  different 


64  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

values  as  one  moved  from  province  to  province, 
sometimes  as  one  moved  from  village  to  village. 
In  some  provinces  taxes  were,  not  determined, 
but  at  least  distributed,  by  certain  people  of  the 
province.  In  other  cases  this  distribution  was 
effected  directly  by  the  agents  of  the  king,  that 
is,  by  the  central  government.  In  some  parts  of 
France  the  civil  laws,  that  is,  the  laws  that  regu- 
lated the  relations  of  individuals  with  each  other, 
not  with  the  state,  were  of  Roman  origin  or  char- 
acter. There  the  written  law  prevailed.  In  other 
sections,  however,  mainly  in  the  north,  one 
changed  laws,  Voltaire  said,  as  one  changed  post- 
horses.  In  such  sections  the  laws  were  not  writ- 
ten but  were  customary,  that  is,  feudal  in  origin 
and  in  spirit.  There  were  indeed  285  different 
codes  of  customary  laws  in  force,  that  is  285  dif- 
ferent ways  of  regulating  legally  the  personal 
relations  of  men  with  men,  within  the  confines 
of  France. 

Again  the  same  diversity  in  another  sphere. 
Thirteen  of  the  provinces  of  central  France  en- 
joyed free  trade,  that  is,  merchandise  could  move 
freely  from  one  end  of  that  area  to  the  other 
without  restriction.  But  the  other  nineteen 
provinces  were  separated  from  each  other,  just 
as  nations  are,  by  tariff  boundaries,  and  when 
goods  passed  from  one  such  province  to  another, 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  65 

they  passed  through  custom-houses  and  duties 
were  paid  on  them,  as  on  goods  that  come  from 
Europe  to  the  United  States. 

All  these  diversities  in  laws,  all  these  tariff 
boundaries,  are  easily  explained.  They  were 
historical  survivals,  troublesome  and  irritating 
reminders  of  the  Middle  Ages.  As  the  kings  of 
France  had  during  the  ages  annexed  this  prov- 
ince and  then  that,  they  had,  more  or  less, 
allowed  the  local  customs  and  institutions  to 
remain  undisturbed.  Hence  this  amazing  patch- 
work which  baffles  description. 

One  consequence  of  all  this  was  the  persistence 
in  France  of  that  feeling  which  in  American  his- 
tory is  known  as  the  states-rights  feeling.  While 
all  admitted  that  they  were  Frenchmen,  provin- 
cial feeling  was  strong  and  frequently  assertive. 
Men  thought  of  themselves  as  Bretons,  as  Nor- 
mans, were  attached  to  the  things  that  differen- 
tiated them,  were  inflexible  or  stubborn  oppo- 
nents of  all  attempts  at  amalgamation.  Before 
France  could  be  considered  strongly  united,  fu- 
sion on  a  grand  scale  had  to  be  accomplished. 
This  was  to  be  one  of  the  memorable  and  dura- 
ble achievements  of  the  Revolution. 

The  financial  condition  of  this  extravagant 
and  inefficient  state  was  deplorable  and  danger- 
pus.  Almost  half  of  the  national  income  was  de- 


66  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

voted  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  national 
debt.  Expenditures  were  always  larger  than  re- 
ceipts, with  the  result  that  there  was  an  annual 
deficit  which  had  to  be  met  by  contracting  a  new 
loan,  thus  enlarging  the  debt  and  the  interest 
charges.  It  appeared  to  be  the  principle  of  state 
finance  that  expenditures  should  not  be  deter- 
mined by  income  but  income  should  be  deter- 
mined by  expenditure.  The  debt  therefore  con- 
stantly increased,  and  to  meet  the  chronic  deficit 
the  government  had  recourse  to  well-known 
methods  which  only  aggravated  the  evil — the 
sale  of  offices,  new  loans.  During  twelve  years 
of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI,  from  1776  to  1788, 
the  debt  increased  nearly  $600,000,000.  People 
became  unwilling  to  loan  to  the  state,  and  it  was 
practically  impossible  to  increase  the  taxes.  The 
national  finances  were  in  a  highly  critical  condi- 
tion. Bankruptcy  impended,  and  bankruptcy 
can  only  be  avoided  in  two  ways,  either  by  in- 
creasing receipts  or  by  reducing  expenditures,  or 
both.  Attempts  were  made  in  the  one  direction 
and  in  the  other,  but  were  ineffectual. 

The  receipts,  of  course,  came  from  the  taxes, 
and  the  taxes  were  already  very  burdensome,  at 
least  for  those  who  paid  them.  They  were  of 
two  kinds,  the  direct  and  the  indirect.  The 
direct  taxes  were  those  on  real  estate,  on 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  67 

personal  property,  and  on  income.  From 
some  of  these  the  nobles  and  the  clergy 
were  entirely  exempt,  and  they  therefore  fell 
all  the  more  heavily  upon  the  class  that  re- 
mained, the  third  estate.  From  others  the  nobles, 
though  not  legally  exempted,  were  in  practice 
largely  freed,,  because  the  authorities  did  not 
assess  noble  property  nearly  as  high  as  they 
did  the  property  of  commoners.  Tax-assessors 
stood  in  awe  of  the  great.  Thus  the  royal 
princes,  who  were  subject  to  the  income  tax 
and  who  ought  to  have  paid  nearly  two  and 
a  half  million  francs,  as  a  matter  of  fact  paid 
less  than  two  hundred  thousand.  Again,  a 
marquis  who  ought  to  have  paid  a  property 
tax  of  2,500  francs  paid  400  and  a  bourgeois 
in  the  same  province  who  ought  to  have  paid 
70  in  reality  paid  760.  Such  crass  favoritism, 
which  always  worked  in  favor  of  the  nobles, 
never  in  favor  of  members  of  the  third  estate, 
naturally  served  only  deeply  to  embitter  the 
latter  class.  Those  who  were  the  wealthiest 
and  therefore  the  best  able  to  support  the  state 
were  the  very  ones  who  paid  the  least,  thus  con- 
forming to  the  principle  that  to  those  that  have 
shall  be  given  and  from  those  that  have  not  shall 
be  taken  away  even  that  which  they  have.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  the  state  took  from  the 


68  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

middle  classes,  and  from  the  workingmen  and 
peasants,  half  their  annual  earnings  in  the  form 
of  these  direct  taxes. 

There  was  another  branch  of  the  system  of 
taxation  which  was  oppressive  and  offensive  for 
other  reasons.  There  were  certain  indirect  taxes 
which  were  collected,  not  by  state  officials  but 
by  private  individuals  or  companies,  the  farmers 
of  taxes,  as  they  were  called,  who  paid  a  lump 
sum  to  the  state  and  then  themselves  collected 
the  taxes,  seeking  of  course  to  extract  as  much 
as  possible  from  the  people.  Not  only  has  this 
system  of  tax-collecting  always  proved  most 
hateful,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  as  the 
tax-farmers  have  always,  in  order  to  make  as 
much  as  possible,  applied  the  screws  with  pitiless 
severity,  thus  generating  a  maximum  of  odium 
and  hatred;  but  in  this  particular  case  several  of 
the  indirect  taxes  would  have  been  unjust  and 
oppressive,  even  if  collected  with  leniency,  a 
thing  never  heard  of.  There  was,  for  instance, 
the  salt  tax,  or  gabelle,  which  came  home,  in  stark 
odiousness,  to  every  one.  The  trade  in  salt  was 
not  open  to  any  one  who  might  wish  to  engage 
in  it,  but  was  a  monopoly  of  a  company  that 
bought  the  privilege  from  the  state,  and  that 
company  was  most  astoundingly  favored  by  the 
law.  For  every  person  above  seven  years  of 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  69 

age  was  required  to  buy  at  least  seven  pounds 
of  salt  annually  whether  he  wished  it  or  not. 
Even  the  utterly  poor,  who  had  not  money 
enough  to  buy  bread,  were  severely  punished  if 
they  refused  or  neglected  to  buy  the  stated 
amount  of  salt.  Moreover  the  tax-collectors  had 
the  right  to  search  all  houses  from  top  to  bottom 
to  see  that  there  was  no  evasion.  Illicit  trade 
in  this  necessary  commodity  was  incessantly 
tracked  down  and  severely  punished.  On  the 
very  eve  of  the  Revolution  it  was  officially  esti- 
mated that  20,000  persons  were  annually  im- 
prisoned and  over  500  annually  condemned  to 
death,  or  to  service  in  the  galleys,  which  was 
hardly  preferable,  for  engaging  in  the  illegal 
trade  in  salt.  Moreover  by  an  extra  refinement 
in  the  art  of  oppression  the  seven  pounds  that  all 
must  buy  could  be  used  only  for  cooking  or  on 
the  table.  If  one  desired  to  salt  down  fish  or 
meats  for  preservation,  one  must  not  use  this 
particular  salt  for  that  purpose,  but  must  buy  an 
additional  amount. 

There  was  another  equally  intolerable  tax,  the 
excise  on  wine.  The  making  of  wine  was  a  great 
national  industry  which  had  existed  for  centu- 
ries, but  if  ever  there  was  a  system  calculated  to 
depress  it,  it  was  the  one  in  vogue  in  France. 
Wine  was  taxed  all  along  the  line  from  the  pro- 


70  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ducer  to  the  consumer.  Taxed  at  the  moment 
of  manufacture,  taxed  at  the  moment  of  sale  by 
the  producer,  it  was  also  taxed  repeatedly  in 
transportation, — thirty-five  or  forty  times,  for 
instance,  between  the  south  of  France  and  Paris, 
so  that  the  combined  taxes  amounted  in  the  end 
to  nearly  as  much  as  the  cost  of  the  original  pro- 
duction. A  trade  exposed  to  such  constant  and 
heavy  impositions  could  not  greatly  flourish. 

Again  the  taxes  both  on  salt  and  on  wine  were 
not  uniform,  but  varied  from  region  to  region, 
so  that  the  sense  of  unjust  treatment  was  kept 
alive  every  day  in  the  ordinary  course  of  busi- 
ness, and  so  that  smuggling  was  in  many  cases 
extremely  profitable.  This  in  turn  led  to  savage 
punishments,  which  only  augmented  the  univer- 
sal discontent  and  entered  like  iron  into  the  souls 
of  men.  In  the  system  of  taxation,  as  in  the 
political  structure,  we  find  everywhere  inequality 
of  treatment,  privileges,  arbitrary  and  tyrannical 
regulations,  coupled  with  uncertainty  from  year 
to  year,  for  the  regulations  were  not  infrequently 
changed.  No  wonder  that  men,  even  nobles, 
criticised  this  fiscal  system  as  shockingly  unjust 
and  scandalously  oppressive. 

The  social  organization  of  France,  also,  was 
far  from  satisfactory.  On  even  the  most  cursory 
view  many  notorious  abuses,  many  intolerable 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  71 

grievances,  many  irritating  or  harmful  malad- 
justments stood  forth,  condemned  by  reason  or 
the  interest  of  large  sections  of  the  population. 
Forms  outworn,  and  institutions  from  which  the 
life  had  departed,  but  whence  issued  a  benumb- 
ing influence,  hampered  development  in  many 
directions.     French  society  was  frankly  based 
upon  the  principle  of  inequality.     There  were 
three  classes  or  orders,  the  clergy,  the  nobility, 
and  the  third  estate.     Not  only  were  the  two 
former  classes  privileged,  that  is,  placed  upon 
a  better  footing  than  the  last,  but  it  is  curious 
to    observe    how    the    pervasive    principle    of 
unequal  rights  broke  up  even  the  formal  unity 
of  each  of  these  classes.     There  was  inequal- 
ity  of   classes    and    there   was    also    inequality 
between  sections  of  the  same  class.     The  two 
privileged  orders  were  favored  in  many  ways, 
such   as    complete    or   partial   exemption    from 
taxes,  or  the  right  themselves  to  tax — the  clergy 
through  its  right  to  tithes,  the  nobility  through 
its  right  to  exact  feudal  dues.    Even  some  of  the 
members  of  the  third  estate  enjoyed  privileges 
denied    the    rest.      There    were    classes   within 
classes.     Of  the  25,000,000  of  Frenchmen  the 
clergy    numbered    about    130,000,    the    nobility 
140,000,  while  possibly  about  as  many  bourgeois 
as  these  two  combined  enjoyed  privileges  that 


72  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

separated  them  from  the  mass  of  their  class. 
Thus  the  privileged  as  a  whole  numbered  less 
than  600,000,  while  the  unprivileged  numbered 
well  over  24,000,000.  One  man  in  forty  there- 
fore belonged  to  the  favored  minority  whose  lot 
was  differentiated  from  that  of  their  fellowmen 
by  artificial  advantages  and  distinctions. 

The  clergy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
formed  the  first  order  in  the  state.  It  was  rich 
and  powerful.  It  owned  probably  a  fifth  of 
the  land  of  France.  This  land  yielded  a  large 
revenue,  and,  in  addition,  the  clergy  exacted 
tithes  on  all  the  agricultural  products  of  the 
realm.  This  was  in  reality  a  form  of  national 
taxation,  with  this  difference  from  the  other 
forms,  that  the  proceeds  went,  not  to  the  nation, 
but  to  the  church.  The  church  had  still  an- 
other source  of  income,  the  dues  which  it  ex- 
acted as  feudal  landlord  from  those  to  whom 
it  stood  in  that  relation.  The  total  income  of 
this  corporation  was  approximately  $100,000,- 
ooo  of  our  money.  Out  of  this  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  church  to  maintain  religious  edifices 
and  services,  to  support  many  hospitals  and 
schools,  to  relieve  personal  distress  by  charity, 
for  there  was  no  such  thing  in  France  as 
organized  poor  relief  by  the  state  or  munici- 
pality. Thus  the  church  was  a  state  within 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  73 

the  state,  performing  several  functions  which 
in  most  modern  societies  are  performed  by  the 
secular  authority.  This  rich  corporation  was 
relieved  from  taxation.  Although  from  time  to 
time  it  paid  certain  lump  sums  to  the  national 
treasury,  these  were  far  smaller  than  they  would 
have  been  had  the  church  been  taxed  on  its  prop- 
erty and  on  its  income  in  the  same  proportion  as 
were  the  commoners. 

An  income  so  large,  had  it  been  wisely  and 
justly  expended,  might  have  aroused  no  criticism, 
for  many  of  the  services  performed  by  this  organ- 
ization were  essential  to  the  well-being  of  France. 
But  here  as  elsewhere  in  the  institutions  of  the 
country  we  find  gross  favoritism  and  wanton 
extravagance,  which  shocked  the  moral  sense  of 
the  nation  and  aroused  its  indignation,  because 
they  belied  so  completely  pretensions  to  a  pecu- 
liar sanctity  on  which  the  church  based  its 
claims  to  its  privileged  position.  For  the  or- 
ganization did  not  treat  its  own  staff  with  any 
sense  of  fair  play.  Much  the  larger  part  of 
the  income  went  to  the  higher  clergy,  that  is, 
to  the  134  bishops  and  archbishops,  and  to  a 
small  number  of  abbots,  canons,  and  other  dig- 
nitaries— in  all  probably  not  more  than  5,000 
or  6,000  ecclesiastics.  These  highly  lucrative 
positions  were  monopolized  by  the  younger 


74  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

sons  of  the  nobility,  who  were  eager  to  accept 
the  salaries  but  not  disposed  to  perform  the 
duties.  Many  of  them  resided  at  court  and 
lived  the  gay  and  worldly  life,  with  scarcely  any- 
thing, save  some  slight  peculiarity  of  dress,  to 
indicate  their  ecclesiastical  character.  The 
morals  of  many  were  scandalous  and  their  intel- 
lectual ability  was  frequently  mediocre.  They 
did  not  consider  themselves  men  set  apart  for  a 
high  and  noble  calling,  they  did  not  take  their 
duties  seriously — of  course  there  were  honorable 
exceptions,  yet  they  were  exceptions — but  their 
aims  were  distinctly  finite  and  they  conducted 
themselves  as  typical  men  of  the  world,  attentive 
to  the  problem  of  self-advancement,  devoted  to 
all  the  pleasures,  dissipations,  and  intrigues  of 
Versailles.  Some  held  several  offices  at  once,  dis- 
charging the  obligations  of  none,  and  enjoying 
princely  revenues.  The  Archbishop  of  Strass- 
burg  had  an  income  of  $300,000  a  year  and  held 
high  court  in  a  splendid  palace,  entertaining  200 
guests  at  a  time.  Even  the  saucepans  of  his 
kitchens  were  of  silver.  A  hundred  and  eighty 
horses  were  in  his  stables,  awaiting  the  pleasure 
of  the  guests. 

A  few  of  the  bishops  received  small  incomes, 
but  the  average  among  them  was  over  $50,000 
a  year.  They  were  in  the  main  absentees,  resid- 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  75 

ing,  not  in  their  dioceses,  but  in  Versailles,  where 
further  plums  were  to  be  picked  up  by  the  lucky, 
and  where  at  any  rate  life  was  gay.  Some  of  the 
bishoprics  had  even  become  the  hereditary  pos- 
sessions of  certain  families,  passing  from  uncle 
to  nephew,  as  in  the  secular  sphere  many  offices 
passed  from  father  to  son. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  lower  clergy,  the  thou- 
sands of  parish  priests,  who  did  the  real  work 
of  spiritual  consolation  and  instruction,  who  la- 
bored faithfully  in  the  vineyard,  were  wretchedly 
requited.  They  were  sons  of  the  third  estate, 
while  their  proud  and  prosperous  superiors  were 
sons  of  the  nobility,  and  they  were  treated  as 
plebeians.  With  wretched  incomes  of  a  few  hun- 
dred francs,  they  had  difficulty  in  keeping  body 
and  soul  together.  No  wonder  they  were  dis- 
contented and  indignant,  exclaiming  that  their 
lot  "  made  the  very  stones  and  beams  of  their 
miserable  dwellings  cry  aloud."  No  wonder  they 
were  bitter  against  their  superiors,  who  neg- 
lected and  exploited  them  with  equal  indiffer- 
ence. The  privileged  order  of  the  clergy  is  thus 
seen  to  be  divided  into  two  classes,  widely  dis- 
similar in  position,  in  origin,  and  in  outlook  upon 
life.  The  parish  priests  came  from  the  people, 
experienced  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the 
people,  saw  the  injustice  of  the  existing  system, 


76  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

and  sympathized  with  plans  for  its  reform.  The 
clergy  was  divided  into  two  classes.  The  tri- 
umph of  the  popular  cause  in  the  Revolution  was 
powerfully  aided  by  the  lower  clergy,  who  threw 
in  their  lot  with  the  third  estate  at  critical  mo- 
ments and  against  their  clerical  superiors,  who 
rallied  to  the  support  of  the  absolute  monarchy 
which  had  been  so  indulgent  and  so  lavish  to 
them.  A  house  divided  against  itself,  however, 
cannot  permanently  stand. 

Somewhat  similar  was  the  situation  of  the 
second  order,  the  nobility.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
clergy,  there  was  here  also  great  variety  of  con- 
dition among  the  members  of  this  order,  although 
all  were  privileged.  There  were  several  sub- 
divisions, clearly  enough  marked.  There  were 
two  main  classes,  the  nobility  of  the  sword  and 
the  nobility  of  the  robe,  that  is,  the  old  military 
nobility  of  feudal  origin  and  the  new  judicial 
nobility,  which  secured  its  rank  from  the  judicial 
offices  its  members  held.  The  nobility  of  the 
sword  consisted  of  the  nobles  of  the  court  and 
of  the  nobles  of  the  provinces.  The  former  were 
few  in  number,  perhaps  a  thousand,  but  they 
shone  with  peculiar  brilliancy,  for  they  were  the 
ones  who  lived  in  Versailles,  danced  attendance 
upon  the  king,  vied  with  each  other  in  an  eager 
competition  for  appointments  in  the  army  and 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  77 

navy  and  diplomatic  service,  for  pensions  and 
largesses  from  the  royal  bounty.  These  they 
needed,  as  they  lived  in  a  luxurious  splendor  that 
taxed  their  incomes  and  overtaxed  them.  Re- 
siding at  court,  they  allowed  their  estates  to  be 
administered  by  bailiffs  or  stewards,  who  exacted 
all  that  they  could  get  from  the  peasantry  who 
cultivated  them.  Everybody  was  jealous  of 
the  nobles  of  this  class,  for  they  were  the  favored 
few,  who  practically  monopolized  all  the  pleasant 
places  in  the  sun. 

The  contrast  was  striking  between  them  and 
the  hundred  thousand  provincial  nobles  who  for 
various  reasons  did  not  live  at  court,  were  not 
known  to  the  king,  received  no  favors,  and  who 
yet  were  conscious  that  in  purity  of  blood,  in 
honorableness  of  descent  and  tradition,  they 
were  the  equals  or  superiors  of  those  who 
crowded  about  the  monarch's  person.  Many  of 
them  had  small  incomes,  some  pitifully  small. 
They  could  cut  no  figure  in  the  world  of  society, 
they  had  few  chances  to  increase  their  prosperity, 
which,  in  fact,  tended  steadily  to  decrease.  Their 
sons  were  trained  for  the  army,  the  only  noble 
profession,  but  could  never  hope  to  rise  very  high 
because  all  the  major  appointments  went  to  the 
assiduous  suitors  of  the  clique  at  court.  They 
resided  among  the  peasants  and  in  some  cases 


78  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

were  hardly  distinguishable  from  them,  except 
that  they  insisted  upon  maintaining  the  tradi- 
tion of  their  class,  their  badge  of  superiority,  a 
life  of  leisure.  To  work  was  to  lose  caste. 
This  obliged  many  of  them  to  insist  rigorously 
upon  the  payment  of  the  various  feudal  dues 
owed  them  by  the  peasantry,  some  of  which 
were  burdensome,  most  of  which  were  irritat- 
ing. In  some  parts  of  France,  however,  as  in 
the  Vendee  and  in  Brittany,  they  were  sympa- 
thetic and  helpful  in  their  relations  with  the 
peasants  and  were  in  turn  treated  with  respect 
by  them. 

The  nobility  as  a  whole  enjoyed  one  privilege 
that  was  a  serious  and  unnecessary  injury  to 
the  peasants,  making  harder  the  conditions  of 
their  lives,  always  hard  enough,  namely  the  ex- 
clusive right  of  hunting,  considered  the  chief 
noble  sport.  This  meant  in  actual  practice  that 
the  peasants  might  not  disturb  the  game,  al- 
though the  game  was  destroying  their  crops. 
This  was  an  unmitigated  abuse,  universally  exe- 
crated by  them. 

The  odium  that  came  to  be  attached  in  men's 
minds  to  the  nobility  was  chiefly  felt  only  for  the 
selfish  and  greedy  minority.  The  provincial  no- 
bility, like  the  lower  clergy,  were  themselves  dis- 
contented with  the  existing  order,  for  abundant 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  79 

reasons.  They  might  not  wish  a  sweeping  trans- 
formation of  society,  but  they  were  disposed  to 
favor  political  reforms  that  would  at  least  give 
all  within  the  order  an  approximately  equal 
chance.  They  were  devoted  to  the  king,  but 
they  experienced  in  their  own  persons  the  evils 
of  an  arbitrary  and  capricious  government 
which  was  highly  partial  in  its  favors. 

There  was  yet  another  section  of  the  nobility 
whose  status  and  whose  outlook  were  different 
still.  Many  offices  in  France  could  be  bought. 
They  and  their  perquisites  became  the  property 
of  those  who  purchased  them  and  could  transmit 
them  to  their  children,  and  one  of  the  perquisites 
that  such  offices  carried  was  a  patent  of  nobility. 
This  was  the  created  nobility,  the  nobility  of  the 
robe,  so  called  because  its  most  conspicuous 
members  were  the  judges,  or  members  of  the 
higher  tribunals  or  parlements.  These  judges 
appeared,  in  one  aspect,  as  liberals,  in  that  as 
lawyers  they  opposed  certain  unpopular  innova- 
tions attempted  by  the  king.  But  in  reality  as 
soon  as  their  own  privileges  were  threatened 
they  became  the  stiffest  of  defenders  of  many  of 
the  most  odious  abuses  of  the  Old  Regime.  In 
the  opening  days  of  the  Revolution  the  Third 
Estate  found  no  more  bitter  opponents  than  these 
ennobled  judges. 


8o  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Such  were  the  two  privileged  orders.  The  rest 
of  the  population,  comprising  the  vast  majority 
of  the  people,  was  called  the  third  estate. 
Differing  from  the  others  in  that  it  was 
unprivileged,  it  resembled  them  in  that  it  illus- 
trated the  principle  of  inequality,  as  did  they. 
There  were  the  widest  extremes  in  social  and  eco- 
nomic conditions.  Every  one  who  was  not  a  noble 
nor  a  clergyman  was  a  member  of  the  third 
estate,  the  richest  banker,  the  most  illustrious 
man  of  letters,  the  poorest  peasant,  the  beggar 
in  the  streets.  Not  at  all  homogeneous,  the  three 
chief  divisions  of  this  immense  mass  were  the 
bourgeoisie,  the  artisans,  and  the  peasants. 

The  bourgeoisie,  or  upper  middle  class,  com- 
prised all  those  who  were  not  manual  laborers. 
Thus  lawyers,  physicians,  teachers,  literary  men 
were  bourgeois :  also  merchants,  bankers,  manu- 
facturers. Despite  great  national  reverses,  the 
bourgeoisie  had  grown  richer  during  the  past 
century  as  commerce  had  greatly  increased. 
This  economic  growth  had  benefited  the  bour- 
geoisie almost  exclusively,  and  many  large  for- 
tunes had  been  built  up  and  the  general  level  of 
material  welfare  had  been  distinctly  raised. 
These  were  the  practical  business  men  who 
loaned  money  to  the  state  and  who  were  fre- 
quently appointed  to  offices  where  business  abil- 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  81 

ity  was  required.  Intelligent,  energetic,  educated, 
and  well-to-do,  this  class  resented  most  keenly 
the  existing  system.  For  they  were  made  to  feel 
in  numerous  galling  ways  their  social  inferiority, 
and,  conscious  that  they  were  quite  as  well  edu- 
cated, quite  as  well  mannered  as  the  nobles,  they 
returned  the  disdain  of  the  latter  with  envy  and 
hatred.  Having  loaned  immense  sums  to  the 
state,  they  were  increasingly  apprehensive,  as 
they  saw  it  verging  rapidly  toward  bankruptcy, 
because  their  interests  were  greatly  imperiled. 
They  therefore  favored  a  political  reorganiza- 
tion which  should  enable  them  to  participate  in 
the  government,  to  control  its  expenditures,  to 
assure  its  solvency,  that  thus  they  might  be  cer- 
tain of  their  interest  and  principal,  that  thus 
abuses  which  impeded  or  injured  business  might 
be  redressed,  and  that  the  precariousness  of 
their  position  might  be  remedied. 

They  wished  also  a  social  revolution.  Well 
educated,  saturated  with  the  literature  of  the 
period,  which  they  read  with  avidity,  their  minds 
fermented  with  the  ideas  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
Montesquieu,  and  the  economists.  Personally, 
man  for  man,  they  were  as  cultivated  as  the 
nobles.  They  wished  social  equality,  they  wished 
the  laws  to  recognize  what  they  felt  the  facts 
proved,  that  the  bourgeois  was  the  equal  of  the 


8?.  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

noble.  They  chafed  under  pretensions  which 
they  felt  unjustified  by  any  real  superiority. 
Their  mood  was  brilliantly  expressed  by  a 
pamphlet  written  by  one  of  their  members,  the 
Abbe  Sieyes,  which  circulated  enormously  on  the 
eve  of  the  Revolution.  '  What  is  the  Third 
Estate?"  asked  Sieyes.  "Everything.  What 
has  it  been  in  politics  until  now?  Nothing. 
What  does  it  desire?  To  become  something." 

Belonging  to  this  estate  but  beneath  the  bour- 
geoisie were  the  artisans — perhaps  two  million 
and  a  half,  living  in  the  towns  and  cities.  They 
were  a  comparatively  small  class  because  the 
industrial  life  of  France  was  not  yet  highly  de- 
veloped. They  were  generally  organized  in 
guilds  which  had  their  rules  and  privileges  that 
gave  rise  to  bickerings  galore  and  that  were  gen- 
erally condemned  as  preventing  the  free  and 
full  expansion  of  industry  and  as  artificially  re- 
stricting the  right  to  work. 

The  other  large  division  of  the  third  estate 
was  the  peasantry.  This  was  by  far  the  largest 
section.  Indeed  it  was  the  nation.  France  was 
an  agricultural  country,  more  than  nine-tenths 
of  the  population  were  peasants,  more  than 
20,000,000.  About  a  million  of  them  were  serfs, 
the  rest  were  free  men,  yet  their  lot  was  an 
unhappy  one.  The  burdens  of  society  fell  with 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  83 

crushing  weight  upon  them.  They  paid  fifty- 
five  per  cent  of  what  they  were  able  to  earn  to 
the  state,  according  to  the  sober  estimate  of 
Turgot.  They  paid  tithes  to  the  clergy  and  nu- 
merous and  vexatious  feudal  dues  to  the  nobles. 
The  peasant  paid  tolls  to  the  seigneur  for  the  use 
of  the  roads  and  bridges.  When  he  sold  his  land 
he  paid  a  fee  to  the  former  seigneur.  He  was  com- 
pelled to  use  the  seigneur's  winepress  in  mak- 
ing his  wine,  the  seigneur's  mill,  the  seigneur's 
oven,  always  paying  for  the  service.  The  loss  of 
money  was  one  aspect  of  the  business,  the  loss  of 
time  another.  In  some  cases,  for  instance,  the 
mill  was  four  or  five  hours  distant,  and  a  dozen 
or  more  rivers  and  rivulets  had  to  be  crossed. 
In  summer,  even  if  the  water  was  too  low  to  turn 
the  wheel,  nevertheless  the  peasant  was  obliged 
to  bring  his  grain  to  be  ground,  must  wait  per- 
haps three  days  or  must  pay  a  fee  for  permission 
to  have  the  grain  ground  elsewhere.  Adding 
what  he  paid  to  the  king,  the  church,  and  the 
seigneur,  and  the  salt  and  excise  duties,  the  total 
was  often  not  far  from  four-fifths  of  his  earnings. 
With  the  remaining  one-fifth  he  had  to  support 
himself  and  family. 

The  inevitable  consequence  was  that  he  lived 
on  the  verge  of  disaster.  Bad  weather  at  a  criti- 
cal moment  supervening,  he  faced  dire  want, 


84  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

even  starvation.  It  happened  that  the  harvest 
was  bad  in  1788  and  that  the  following  winter 
was  cruelly  severe.  According  to  a  foreign  am- 
bassador water  froze  almost  in  front  of  the 
fireplace.  It  need  occasion  no  surprise  that  ow- 
ing to  such  conditions  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  became  beggars  or  brigands,  driven  to 
frenzy  by  hunger.  It  has  been  estimated  that  in 
Paris  alone,  with  a  population  of  650,000,  there 
were  nearly  120,000  paupers.  No  wonder  there 
were  abundant  recruits  for  riots  and  deeds  of 
violence.  The  20,000,000  peasants,  who  knew 
nothing  of  statecraft,  who  were  ignorant  of 
the  destructive  and  subversive  theories  of  Vol- 
taire and  Rousseau,  were  daily  and  hourly  im- 
pressed with  the  imperative  necessity  of  reforms 
by  the  hard  circumstances  of  their  lives.  They 
knew  that  the  feudal  dues  would  have  to  be  abol- 
ished, that  the  excessive  exactions  of  the  state 
would  have  to  be  reduced  before  their  lives  could 
become  tolerable.  Their  reasons  for  desiring 
change  were  different  from  those  of  the  other 
classes,  but  it  is  evident  that  they  were  more  than 
sufficient. 

The  combined  demand  for  reform  increased  as 
time  went  on  and  swelled  in  volume  and  in  in- 
tensity. The  voice  of  the  people  spoke  with  no 
uncertain  sound. 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  85 

Such  was  the  situation.  On  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution  Frenchmen  enjoyed  no  equality  of 
status  or  opportunity,  but  privileges  of  the  most 
varied  kinds  divided  them  from  each  other. 

They  also  enjoyed  no  liberty.  Religious  lib- 
erty was  lacking.  Since  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685  Protestantism  had  been 
outlawed.  It  was  a  crime  punishable  with  hard 
labor  to  practise  that  religion.  Under  Louis 
XVI  the  persecution  of  Protestants  was  in  fact 
suspended,  but  it  might  be  resumed  at  any  mo- 
ment. Protestant  preaching  was  forbidden  and 
consequently  could  occur  only  in  secret  or  in 
lonely  places.  Jews  were  considered  foreigners 
and  as  such  were  tolerated,  but  their  position 
was  humiliating.  Catholics  were  required  by  law 
to  observe  the  requirements  and  usages  of  their 
religion,  communion,  fast  days,  Lent.  The 
church  was  absolutely  opposed  to  toleration  and 
because  of  this  incurred  the  animosity  of  Vol- 
taire. 

There  was  no  liberty  of  thought  or,  at  least, 
of  the  expression  of  it.  Every  book,  every  news- 
paper article  must  be  submitted  to  the  censor  for 
approval  before  publication,  and  no  printer  might 
print  without  permission.  Even  when  pub- 
lished in  conformity  with  these  conditions  books 
might  be  seized  and  burned  by  the  police,  edi- 


86  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

tions  destroyed  when  possible,  and  publishers, 
authors,  readers  might  be  prosecuted  and  fined 
or  imprisoned.  Let  no  one  think  that  the  mere 
fact  that  Rousseau,  Voltaire,  and  the  other  au- 
thors of  the  day  were  able  to  get  their  thoughts 
before  the  public  proves  that  liberty  really  ex- 
isted in  practice,  even  if  not  in  theory.  Voltaire 
was  imprisoned  several  times  for  what  he  wrote 
and  was  virtually  exiled  during  long  years  of 
his  life.  The  censorship  was  applied  capri- 
ciously, but  it  was  applied  sufficiently  often  and 
prosecutions  were  sufficiently  numerous,  to  jus- 
tify the  statement  that  liberty  was  lacking  in  this 
sphere  of  life. 

There  was  no  individual  liberty.  The  authori- 
ties might  arrest  any  one  whom  they  wished 
and  keep  him  in  prison  as  long  as  they  chose 
without  assigning  reasons  and  without  giving 
the  victim  any  chance  to  prove  his  innocence. 
There  was  no  such  thing  as  a  Habeas  Corpus 
law.  There  was  a  large  number  of  state  prisons, 
the  most  famous  being  the  Bastille,  and  many  of 
their  occupants  were  there  by  reason  of  the 
lettres  de  cachet,  or  orders  for  arbitrary  arrest, 
one  of  the  most  odious  and  hated  features  of  the 
Old  Regime.  Ministers  and  their  subordinate 
officials  used  these  letters  freely.  Nobles  easily 
obtained  them,  sometimes  the  place  for  the  name 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  87 

being  left  blank  for  them  to  fill  in.  Sometimes, 
even,  they  were  sold.  Thus  there  was  abundant 
opportunity  to  use  them  to  pay  off  merely  per- 
sonal grudges.  Malesherbes  once  said  to  Louis 
XVI,  "  No  citizen  of  your  realm  is  sure  of  not 
seeing  his  liberty  sacrificed  to  private  spite,  the 
spirit  of  revenge :  for  no  one  is  so  great  as  to  be 
safe  from  the  hatred  of  a  minister,  so  little  as  to 
be  unworthy  of  that  of  a  clerk."  Lettres  de 
cachet  were  also  used  as  a  measure  of  family  dis- 
cipline, to  buttress  the  authority  of  the  head  of 
the  family,  which  was  quite  as  absolute  as  it  is 
in  the  Orient.  A  father  could  have  his  wife  im- 
prisoned or  his  children,  even  though  they  were 
adults.  Mirabeau  had  this  experience  even  when 
he  was  already  widely  known  as  a  writer  on  pub- 
lic affairs. 

Nor  was  there  political  liberty.  The  French 
did  not  have  the  right  to  hold  public  meetings  or 
to  form  associations  or  societies.  And  of  course, 
as  we  have  seen,  they  did  not  elect  any  assem- 
blies to  control  the  royal  government.  Liberties 
which  had  been  in  vogue  in  England  for  centu- 
ries, which  were  the  priceless  heritage  of  the 
English  race  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  were 
unknown  in  France. 

In  view  of  all  these  facts  it  is  not  strange  that 
Liberty  and  Equality  became  the  battle  cry  of  the 


88  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Revolution,  embodying  the  deepest  aspirations 
of  the  nation. 

The  French  Revolution  has  been  frequently 
ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the  "  philosophers  " 
or  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  is 
putting  the  cart  before  the  horse,  not  the  usual 
or  efficient  way  of  insuring  progress.  The  mani- 
fold ills  from  which  the  nation  suffered  only  too 
palpably  were  the  primary  cause  of  the  demand 
for  a  cure. 

Nevertheless  it  was  a  fact  of  great  importance 
that  all  the  conditions  described  above,  and  many 
others,  were  criticised  through  the  century  by  a 
group  of  brilliant  writers,  whose  exposition  and 
denunciation  gave  vocal  expression  on  a  vast 
scale  to  the  discontent,  the  indignation,  and  the 
longing  of  the  age.  Literature  was  a  lusty  and 
passionate  champion  of  reform,  and  through  it 
a  flood  of  new  ideas  swept  over  France.  Many 
of  these  ideas  were  of  foreign  origin,  German, 
American,  above  all  English;  many  were  of  na- 
tive growth.  Literature  was  political,  and  never 
was  there  such  a  raking  criticism,  from  every 
angle,  of  prevalent  ideas.  It  was  skeptical  and 
expressed  the  greatest  contempt  for  the  tradi- 
tional— that  is,  for  the  very  basis  on  which 
France  uneasily  rested.  It  was  analytical,  and 
ideas  and  institutions  and  methods  were  sub- 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  89 

jected  to  the  most  minute  and  exhaustive  ex- 
amination. No  cranny  of  sequestered  abuse  or 
folly  was  left  unexplored  by  these  eager  and 
inquisitive  and  irreverent  minds,  on  whom  the 
past  hung  lightly.  Literature  was  optimistic, 
and  never  did  a  nation  witness  so  luxuriant 
or  tropical  a  growth  of  Utopias  and  dreams. 
Rarely  has  any  body  of  writing  been  so  charged 
and  surcharged  with  freshness  and  boldness  and 
reckless  confidence.  Appealing  to  reason,  ap- 
pealing to  the  emotions,  it  ran  up  and  down  the 
gamut  of  human  nature,  playing  with  ease  and 
fervor  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  in  every 
tone,  with  every  accent.  It  was  a  literature  of 
criticism,  of  denunciation,  of  ingenious  or  futile 
suggestions  for  a  fairer  future.  Sparkling, 
vehement,  satirical,  scientific  in  form,  it  breathed 
revolt,  detestation,  but  it  breathed  also  an 
abounding  faith  in  the  infinite  perfectibility  of 
man  and  his  institutions.  It  was  destructive, 
as  has  often  been  said.  It  was  constructive, 
too,  a  characteristic  which  has  not  so  often 
been  noted.  These  books,  which  issued  in 
great  profusion  from  the  facile  pens  and  teem- 
ing brains  of  Montesquieu,  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
Diderot,  Quesnay,  and  many  others,  stirred  the 
intellectual  world  to  its  depths.  They  acceler- 
ated the  circulation  of  multifarious  ideas  on  poli- 


90  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

tics,  religion,  society,  business.  They  constituted 
great  historic  acts.  They  crystallized  in  brilliant 
and  sometimes  blinding  formulas  and  theorems 
whole  philosophies  of  the  state  and  of  society. 
In  such  compact  and  manageable  form  they  made 
the  tour  of  France  and  began  the  tour  of  Europe. 

The  volume  of  this  inflammable  literature  was 
large,  its  impetus  tremendous.  It  exhaled  the 
love  of  liberty,  the  craving  for  justice.  Liberal 
ideas  penetrated  more  and  more  deeply  into  the 
public  mind.  A  vast  fermentation,  an  incessant 
and  fearless  discussion  of  existing  evils  and  their 
remedies  prepared  the  way  for  coming  events 
which  were  to  prove  of  momentous  character. 

For  three  generations  the  fire  of  criticism  and 
satire  rained  upon  the  foundations  of  the  French 
monarchy.  The  campaign  was  opened  by  Mon- 
tesquieu, a  member  of  the  nobility  of  the  robe,  a 
lawyer  of  eminence,  a  judge  of  the  Parlement  of 
Bordeaux.  His  great  work,  the  product  of 
twenty  years  of  labor,  was  his  Spirit  of  Laws, 
published  in  1748.  It  had  an  immediate  and  im- 
mense success.  Twenty-two  editions  issued  from 
the  press  in  eighteen  months.  It  was  a  study  in 
political  philosophy,  an  analysis  of  the  various 
forms  of  government  known  to  men,  a  cold  and 
balanced  judgment  of  their  various  peculiarities, 
merits,  and  defects.  Tearing  aside  the  veil  of 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  91 

mystery  which  men  had  thrown  about  their  in- 
stitutions, disregarding  contemptuously  the 
claim  of  a  divine  origin,  of  a  sacrosanct  and  in- 
violable quality  inherent  in  their  very  nature, 
Montesquieu  examined  the  various  types  with 
the  same  detachment  and  objectivity  which  a 
botanist  shows  in  the  study  of  his  specimens. 
Two  or  three  leading  ideas  emerged  from  the 
process.  One  was  that  the  English  government 
was  on  the  whole  the  best,  since  it  guaranteed 
personal  liberty  to  all  citizens.  It  was  a  mon- 
archy which  was  limited  in  power,  and  controlled 
by  an  assembly  which  represented  the  people  of 
England — in  other  words  what,  in  the  language 
of  modern  political  science,  is  called  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy.  Montesquieu  also  emphasized 
the  necessity  in  any  well-regulated  state  of  sep- 
arating carefully  the  three  powers  of  govern- 
ment, the  legislative,  the  executive,  and  the  ju- 
dicial. In  the  French  monarchy  all  were  blended 
and  fused  in  the  single  person  of  the  king,  and 
were  subject  to  no  earthly  control — and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  to  no  divine  control  that  was  per- 
ceptible. These  conceptions  of  a  constitutional 
as  preferable  to  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  of 
the  necessity  of  providing  for  a  separation  of  the 
three  powers,  have  dominated  all  the  constitu- 
tions France  has  had  since  1789  and  have  exerted 


92  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

an  influence  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  that 
country.  Propounded  by  a  studious  judge,  in 
language  that  was  both  grave  and  elegant,  Mon- 
tesquieu's masterpiece  was  a  storehouse  of  wis- 
dom, destined  to  be  provocative  of  much  thought, 
discussion,  and  action,  both  in  France  and  else- 
where. 

Very  different,  but  even  more  memorable,  was 
the  work  of  Voltaire,  one  of  the  master  minds  of 
European  history,  whose  name  has  become  the 
name  of  an  era.  We  speak  of  the  age  of  Voltaire 
as  we  speak  of  the  age  of  Luther  and  of  Erasmus. 
Voltaire  stands  for  the  emancipation  of  the  in- 
tellect. His  significance  to  his  times  is  shown  in 
the  title  men  gave  him — King  Voltaire.  The 
world  has  not  often  seen  a  freer  or  more  intrepid 
spirit.  Supremely  gifted  for  a  life  of  letters, 
Voltaire  proved  himself  an  accomplished  poet, 
historian,  dramatist,  even  scientist,  for  he  was 
not  a  specialist,  but  versatility  was  his  forte. 
Well  known  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-four  in  a  veritable  delirium 
of  applause,  for  his  exit  from  the  world  was  an 
amazing  apotheosis.  World-renowned  he  melted 
into  world  history. 

He  had  not  trod  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance 
but  had  been  a  warrior  all  his  life  for  multi- 
farious and  generally  honorable  causes.  With 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  93 

many  weaknesses  of  character,  of  which  exces- 
sive vanity  was  one,  he  was  a  pillar  of  cloud  by 
day  and  of  fire  by  night  for  all  who  enlisted  in 
the  fight  for  the  liberation  of  mankind.  He  had 
personally  experienced  the  oppression  of  the  Old 
Regime  and  he  hated  it  with  a  deep  and  abiding 
hatred.  He  had  several  times  been  thrown  into 
prison  by  the  odious  arbitrary  lettres  de  cachet 
because  he  had  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  great. 
A  large  part  of  his  life  had  been  spent  in  exile 
because  he  was  not  safe  in  France.  By  his  pro- 
digious intellectual  activity  he  had  amassed  a 
large  fortune  and  had  become  one  of  the  powers 
of  Europe.  Show  him  a  case  of  arbitrary  injus- 
tice, a  case  of  religious  persecution  hounding  an 
innocent  man  to  an  awful  death — and  there  were 
such  cases — and  you  would  see  him  taking  the 
field,  aflame  with  wrath  against  the  authors  of 
the  monstrous  deed.  It  was  literally  true  in  the 
age  of  Voltaire  that  the  pen  was  far  mightier 
than  the  sword.  His  style  has  been  superlatively 
praised  and  cannot  be  praised  too  highly.  Clear, 
pointed,  supple,  trenchant,  it  was  a  Damascus 
blade.  He  was  never  tiresome,  he  was  al- 
ways interesting,  and  he  was  generally  instruc- 
tive. The  buoyancy  of  his  spirit  was  shown 
in  everything  he  wrote.  A  master  of  biting 
satire  and  of  pulverizing  invective,  he  singled 


94  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

out  particularly  for  his  attention  the  hypocrisies 
and  cruelties  and  bigotries  of  his  age  and  he 
raked  them  with  a  rapid  and  devastating  fire. 
This  brought  him  into  conflict  with  the  state  and 
the  church.  He  denounced  the  abuses  and  in- 
iquities of  the  laws  and  the  judicial  system,  of 
arbitrary  imprisonment,  of  torture.  Voltaire 
was  not  a  careful  and  sober  student,  like  Mon- 
tesquieu. In  an  age  which  had  no  journalism 
he  was  the  most  brilliant  and  mordant  of  jour- 
nalists, writing  as  he  listed,  on  the  events  or 
problems  of  his  day.  The  variety  and  piquancy 
of  his  writings  were  astonishing. 

Voltaire  was  not  primarily  a  political  thinker. 
He  attacked  individual  abuses  in  the  state  and 
he  undermined  the  respect  for  authority,  but  he 
evidently  was  satisfied  with  monarchy  as  an  in- 
stitution. His  ideal  of  government  was  a  benev- 
olent despotism.  He  was  not  a  democrat.  He 
would  rather  be  ruled  by  one  lion  than  by  a  hun- 
dred rats,  was  the  way  in  which  he  expressed  his 
preference. 

The  church  was  his  bete  noire,  as  he  considered 
it  the  gloomy  fastness  of  moldering  supersti- 
tions, the  enemy  of  freedom  of  thought,  the  per- 
secutor of  innocent  men  who  differed  from  it,  as 
the  seat  of  intolerance,  as  the  supporter  of  all 
kinds  of  narrow  and  bigoted  prejudices.  Vol- 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  95 

taire  was  not  an  atheist.  He  believed  in  God, 
but  he  did  not  believe  in  the  Christian  or  in  the 
Hebrew  God,  and  he  hated  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  and  all  its  works  and  dealt  it  many  re- 
doubtable blows.  In  eighteenth-century  France 
the  church,  as  we  have  seen,  presented  plenty  of 
vulnerable  sides  for  his  fiery  shafts.  Voltaire's 
work  was  not  constructive  but  destructive.  His 
religious  faith  was  vague  at  best  and  not  very 
vital.  He  scorned  all  formal  creeds. 

Very  different  in  tone  and  tendency  was  the 
work  of  another  author,  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 
In  Voltaire  we  have  the  dry,  white  light  of  reason 
thrown  upon  the  dark  places  of  the  world.  In 
Rousseau  we  have  reason,  or  rather  logic,  suf- 
fused and  powerfully  refracted  with  emotion.  If 
the  former  was  primarily  engaged  in  the  attempt 
to  destroy,  the  latter  was  constructive,  imagina- 
tive, prophetic.  Rousseau  was  the  creator  of  an 
entire  political  system,  he  was  the  confident  the- 
orist of  a  new  organization  of  society.  Montes- 
quieu and  Voltaire  desired  political  reforms  in 
the  interest  of  individual  liberty,  desired  the  end 
of  tyranny.  But  Rousseau  swept  far  beyond 
them,  wishing  a  total  reorganization  of  society, 
because  no  amount  of  patching  and  renovating 
could  make  the  present  system  tolerable,  because 
nothing  less  would  render  liberty  possible.  He 


96  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

wrote  a  magic  prose,  rich,  sonorous,  full  of  mel- 
ancholy, full  of  color,  of  musical  cadences,  of 
solemn  and  pensive  eloquence.  The  past  had  no 
power  over  him;  he  lacked  completely  the  his- 
torical sense.  The  past,  indeed,  he  despised.  It 
was  to  him  the  enemy  par  excellence,  the  cause 
of  all  the  multiplied  ills  from  which  humanity  was 
suffering  and  must  free  itself.  Angry  with  the 
world  as  it  was — his  own  life  had  been  hard — he, 
the  son  of  a  Genevan  watchmaker,  had  wandered 
here  and  there  practising  different  trades,  valet, 
music-teacher,  tutor — he  had  known  misery  and 
had  no  personal  reason  for  thinking  well  of  the 
world  and  its  boasted  civilization.  In  his  first 
work  he  propounded  his  fundamental  thesis  that 
man,  naturally  good  and  just  and  happy,  had 
been  corrupted  and  degraded  by  the  very  thing 
he  called  civilization.  Therefore  sweep  civiliza- 
tion aside,  and  on  the  ground  freed  from  its  arti- 
ficial and  baneful  conventions  and  institutions 
erect  the  idyllic  state. 

Rousseau's  principal  work  was  his  Social  Con- 
tract, one  of  the  most  famous  and  in  its  results 
one  of  the  most  influential  books  ever  written. 
Opening  with  the  startling  statement  that  "  man 
was  born  free  and  is  everywhere  in  chains,"  he 
proceeded  to  outline,  by  pure  abstract  reasoning, 
and  with  a  lofty  disregard  of  all  that  history 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  97 

had  to  teach  and  all  that  psychology  revealed  of 
the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  a  purely  ideal 
state,  which  was  in  complete  contrast  to  the  one 
in  which  he  lived.  Society  rests  only  upon  an 
agreement  of  the  persons  who  compose  it.  The 
people  are  sovereign,  not  any  individual,  nor  any 
class.  All  men  are  free  and  equal.  The  purpose 
of  any  government  should  be  to  preserve  the 
rights  of  each.  Rousseau  did  not  at  all  agree 
with  Montesquieu,  whose  praise  of  the  English 
form  of  government  as  insuring  personal  liberty 
he  considered  fallacious.  "  The  English  think 
themselves  free,"  he  said,  "  but  they  are  mis- 
taken, for  they  are  free  only  at  the  moment  in 
which  they  elect  the  members  of  Parliament."  As 
soon  as  these  are  chosen,  the  people  are  slaves, 
they  are  nothing,  since  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment are  rulers,  not  the  people.  Only  when  the 
next  election  comes  round  will  they  be  free  again, 
and  then  only  for  another  moment.  Rousseau 
repudiated  the  representative  system  of  govern- 
ment and  demanded  that  the  people  make  the 
laws  themselves  directly.  Government  must  be 
government  by  majorities.  The  majority  may 
make  mistakes,  nevertheless  it  is  always  right, — 
a  dark  saying.  Rousseau's  state  made  no  pro- 
vision for  safeguarding  any  rights  of  the  minor- 
ity which  the  majority  might  wish  to  infringe. 


98  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

The  harmful  feature  of  his  system  was  that 
it  rendered  possible  a  tyranny  by  a  majority 
over  a  minority  quite  as  complete  and  odious  and 
unrestrained  as  any  tyranny  of  a  king  could  be. 
But  two  of  his  ideas  stood  out  in  high  relief — 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  the  political 
equality  of  all  citizens,  two  democratic  principles 
which  were  utterly  subversive  of  the  states  of 
Europe  as  then  constituted.  These  principles 
powerfully  influenced  the  course  of  the  Revolu- 
tion and  have  been  preached  with  fervor  and 
denounced  with  passion  by  rival  camps  ever 
since.  They  have  made  notable  progress  in  the 
world  since  Rousseau  gave  them  thrilling  utter- 
ance, but  they  have  still  much  ground  to  traverse 
before  they  gain  the  field,  before  the  reign  of 
democracy  everywhere  prevails. 

There  were  many  other  writers  who,  by  at- 
tacking this  abuse  and  that,  contributed  power- 
fully to  the  discrediting,  the  sapping  of  the  Old 
Regime.  A  conspicuous  group  of  them  busied 
themselves  with  economic  studies  and  theories, 
enunciating  principles  which,  if  applied,  would 
revolutionize  the  industrial  and  commercial  life 
of  the  nation  by  sweeping  away  the  numerous 
and  formidable  restrictions  which  hampered  it 
and  which  permeated  it  with  favoritism  and 
privilege,  and  by  introducing  the  maximum  of 


THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  FRANCE  99 

liberty  in  commerce,  in  industry,  in  agriculture, 
just  as  the  writers  whom  we  have  described 
enunciated  principles  which  would  revolutionize 
France  politically  and  socially. 

All  this  seed  fell  upon  fruitful  soil.  Remark- 
able was  to  be  the  harvest,  as  we  shall  shortly 
see. 

The  Revolution  was  not  caused  by  the  philoso- 
phers, but  by  the  conditions  and  evils  of  the  na- 
tional life  and  by  the  mistakes  of  the  govern- 
ment. Nevertheless  these  writers  were  a  factor 
in  the  Revolution,  for  they  educated  a  group  of 
leaders,  instilled  into  them  certain  decisive  doc- 
trines, furnished  them  with  phrases,  formulas, 
and  arguments,  gave  a  certain  tone  and  cast  to 
their  minds,  imparted  to  them  certain  powerful 
illusions,  encouraged  an  excessive  hopefulness 
which  was  characteristic  of  the  movement.  They 
did  not  cause  the  Revolution,  but  they  exposed 
the  causes  brilliantly,  focussed  attention  upon 
them,  compelled  discussion,  and  aroused  passion. 


CHAPTER  II 
BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

UNDER  Louis  XVI  the  financial  situation  of  the 
country  became  more  and  more  serious,  until  it 
could  no  longer  be  ignored.  The  cost  of  the  par- 
ticipation in  the  American  Revolution,  added  to 
the  enormous  debt  inherited  from  the  reigns  of 
Louis  XIV  and  Louis  XV  and  to  the  excessive 
and  unregulated  expenditures  of  the  state  and 
the  wastefulness  of  the  court,  completed  the  de- 
rangement of  the  national  finances  and  fore- 
shadowed bankruptcy.  In  the  end  this  crisis 
forced  the  monarch  to  make  an  appeal  to  the 
people  by  summoning  their  representatives. 

But  before  taking  so  grave  a  step,  the  conse- 
quences of  which  were  incalculable,  the  govern- 
ment tried  various  expedients  less  drastic,  which, 
however,  for  various  reasons,  failed.  Louis  XVI 
was  the  unhappy  monarch  under  whom  these 
long  accumulating  ills  culminated.  The  last  of 
the  rulers  of  the  Old  Regime,  his  reign  covered 
the  years  from  1774  to  1792.  It  falls  into  three 
periods,  a  brief  one  of  attempted  reform  (1774- 
1776)  and  then  a  relapse  for  the  next  twelve 


100 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       101 

years  into  the  traditional  methods  of  the  Bour- 
bon monarchy,  after  that  the  hurricane. 

During  his  youth  no  one  thought  that  Louis 
would  ever  be  monarch,  so  many  other  princes 
stood  between  him  and  the  throne  that  his  suc- 
cession was  only  a  remote  contingency.  But  ow- 
ing to  an  unprecedented  number  of  deaths  in  the 
direct  line  this  contingency  became  reality. 
Louis  mounted  the  throne,  from  which  eighteen 
years  later,  by  a  strange  concourse  of  events,  he 
was  hurled.  He  had  never  been  molded  for  the 
high  and  dangerous  office.  He  was  but  twenty 
years  old  and  the  Queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  but 
nineteen  when  they  heard  of  the  death  of  Louis 
XV,  and  instinctively  both  expressed  the  same 
thought,  "  How  unhappy  are  we.  We  are  too 
young  to  rule."  The  new  king  was  entirely  un- 
trained in  the  arts  of  government.  He  was  good, 
well-intentioned,  he  had  a  high  standard  of  mo- 
rality and  duty,  a  genuine  desire  to  serve  his  peo- 
ple. But  his  mind  lacked  all  distinction,  his  edu- 
cation had  been  poor,  his  processes  of  thought 
were  hesitating,  slow,  uncertain.  Awkward, 
timid,  without  elegancies  or  graces  of  mind  or 
body,  no  king  could  have  been  less  to  the  manner 
born,  none  could  have  seemed  more  out  of  place 
in  the  brilliant,  polished,  and  heartless  court  of 
which  he  was  the  center.  This  he  felt  himself, 


102  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

as  others  felt  it,  and  he  often  regretted,  even  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  that  he  could  not  abdicate 
and  pass  into  a  private  station  which  would  have 
been  far  more  to  his  taste.  He  was  an  excellent 
horseman,  he  was  excessively  fond  of  hunting, 
he  practised  with  delight  the  craft  of  locksmith. 
He  was  ready  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  wiser 
men,  but,  and  this  was  his  fatal  defect,  he  was  of 
feeble  will.  He  had  none  of  the  masterful  quali- 
ties necessary  for  leadership.  He  was  quite  un- 
able to  see  where  danger  lay  and  where  support 
was  to  be  found.  He  was  not  unintelligent,  but 
his  intelligence  was  unequal  to  his  task.  He  had 
no  clear  conception  of  either  France  or  Europe. 
He  was  a  poor  judge  of  men,  yet  was  greatly  in- 
fluenced by  them.  He  gave  way  now  to  this  in- 
fluence, which  might  be  good,  now  to  that,  which 
might  be  bad.  He  was,  by  nature,  like  other 
princes  of  his  time,  a  reforming  monarch,  but  his 
impulses  in  this  direction  were  intermittent. 
Necker  said  on  one  occasion,  "  You  may  lend  a 
man  your  ideas,  you  cannot  lend  him  your 
strength  of  will."  "  Imagine,"  said  another, 
"  trying  to  keep  a  dozen  oiled  ivory  balls  touch- 
ing. I  think  you  couldn't  do  it."  So  it  was  with 
the  King's  ideas.  At  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
Louis  XVI  was  subject  to  the  influence  of  Tur- 
got,  one  of  the  wisest  of  statesmen.  Later  he 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       103 

was  subject  to  the  influence  of  the  Queen — 
to  his  own  great  misfortune  and  also  to  that  of 
France. 

The  influence  of  women  was  always  great  in 
France  under  the  Bourbon  monarchy,  and  Marie 
Antoinette  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Fur- 
thermore that  influence  was  frequently  dis- 
astrous, and  here  again  in  the  case  of  the  last 
queen  of  the  Old  Regime  there  was  no  exception. 
If  the  King  proved  inferior  to  his  position,  the 
Queen  proved  no  less  inferior  to  hers.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  the  great  Empress  Maria 
Theresa  of  Austria,  and  she  had  been  married  to 
Louis  XVI  in  the  hope  that  thus  an  alliance 
would  be  cemented  between  the  two  states  which 
had  so  long  been  enemies.  But,  as  many  French- 
men disliked  everything  about  this  alliance,  she 
was  unpopular  and  exposed  to  much  malevolent 
criticism  from  the  moment  she  set  foot  in  France. 
She  was  beautiful,  gracious,  and  vivacious.  She 
possessed  in  large  measure  some  of  the  very 
qualities  the  King  so  conspicuously  lacked.  She 
had  a  strong  will,  power  of  rapid  decision,  a 
spirit  of  initiative,  daring.  But  she  was  lacking 
in  wisdom,  in  breadth  of  judgment;  she  did  not 
understand  the  temperament  of  the  French  peo- 
ple nor  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Born  to  the  pur- 
ple, her  outlook  upon  life  did  not  transcend  that 


104  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

of  the  small  and  highly  privileged  class  to  which 
she  belonged. 

She  had  grown  up  in  Vienna,  one  of  the  gayest 
capitals  of  Europe.  Her  education  was  woefully 
defective.  When  she  came  to  France  to  become 
the  wife  of  Louis  XVI,  she  hardly  knew  how  to 
write.  She  had  had  tutors  in  everything,  but 
they  had  availed  her  little.  She  was  wilful  and 
proud,  unthinking  and  extravagant,  intolerant 
of  disagreeable  facts,  frivolous,  impatient  of  all 
restraint,  fond  of  pleasure  and  of  those  who 
ministered  unto  it.  She  committed  many  indis- 
cretions both  in  her  conduct  and  in  the  kind  of 
people  she  chose  to  have  about  her.  Because  of 
these  she  was  grossly  calumniated  and  mis- 
judged. 

Marie  Antoinette  was  the  center  of  a  group  of 
rapacious  people  who  benefited  by  existing 
abuses,  who  were  opposed  to  all  reform.  Quite 
unconsciously  she  helped  to  aggravate  the  finan- 
cial situation  and  thus  to  hasten  catastrophe. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Louis  intrusted 
the  management  of  finances  to  a  man  of  rare 
ability  and  courage,  Turgot.  Turgot  had  been  in- 
tendant  of  one  of  the  poorest  provinces  of  France. 
By  applying  there  the  principles  of  the  most 
advanced  economists,  which  may  be  summed  up 
as  demanding  the  utmost  liberty  for  industry 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       105 

and  trade,  the  abolition  of  all  artificial  restric- 
tions and  all  minute  and  vexatious  governmental 
regulations,  he  had  made  his  province  pros- 
perous. He  now  had  to  face  the  problem  of  the 
large  annual  deficit.  The  continuance  of  annual 
deficits  could  mean  nothing  else  than  ultimate 
bankruptcy.  Turgot  announced  his  program  to 
the  King  in  the  words,  "  No  bankruptcy,  no  in- 
crease of  taxation,  no  more  borrowing."  He 
hoped  to  extricate  the  national  finances  by  two 
processes,  by  effecting  economies  in  expendi- 
tures, and  by  developing  public  wealth  so  that 
the  receipts  would  be  larger.  The  latter  object 
would  be  achieved  by  introducing  the  regime  of 
liberty  into  agriculture,  industry,  and  commerce. 
Turgot  was  easily  able  to  save  many  millions 
by  suppressing  useless  expenditures,  but  in  so 
doing  he  offended  all  who  enjoyed  those  sine- 
cures, and  they  flew  to  arms.  The  trade  in  food- 
stuffs was  hopelessly  and  dangerously  hampered 
by  all  sorts  of  artificial  and  pernicious  legislation 
and  interference  by  the  state.  All  this  he  swept 
aside,  introducing  free  trade  in  grain.  A  power- 
ful class  of  speculators  was  thus  offended.  He 
abolished  the  trade  guilds,  which  restricted  pro- 
duction by  limiting  the  number  of  workers  in 
each  line,  and  by  guarding  jealously  the  narrow, 
inelastic  monopolies  they  had  established.  Their 


io6  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

abolition  was  desirable,  but  all  the  masters  of 
the  guilds  and  corporations  became  his  bitter 
enemies.  Turgot  abolished  an  odious  tax,  the 
royal  corvee,  which  required  the  peasants  to  work 
without  pay  on  the  public  roads.  Instead,  he  pro- 
vided that  all  such  work  should  be  paid  for  and 
that  a  tax  to  that  end  should  be  levied  upon  all 
landowners,  whether  belonging  to  the  privileged 
or  the  unprivileged  classes.  The  former  were 
resolved  that  this  should  not  be,  this  odious 
equality  of  all  before  the  tax-collector.  Thus  all 
those  who  battened  and  fattened  off  the  old  sys- 
tem combined  in  merciless  opposition  to  Turgot 
and,  reinforced  by  the  parlements  particularly, 
and  by  Marie  Antoinette,  they  brought  great 
pressure  upon  the  King  to  dismiss  the  obnoxious 
minister.  Louis  yielded  to  the  vehement  impor- 
tunities of  the  Queen  and  dismissed  the  ablest 
supporter  the  throne  had.  In  this  both  mon- 
archs  were  grievously  at  fault,  the  King  for  his 
lack  of  will,  the  Queen  for  her  wilfulness.  "  M. 
Turgot  and  I  are  the  only  persons  who  love  the 
people,"  said  Louis  XVI,  but  he  did  not  prove 
his  love  by  his  acts.  A  few  days  earlier  Turgot 
had  written  him,  "  Never  forget,  your  Majesty, 
that  it  was  weakness  which  brought  Charles  I  to 
the  block." 

This  incident  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       107 

nature  of  the  Old  Regime.  All  reformers  were 
given  warning  by  the  fall  of  Turgot.  No  changes 
that  should  affect  the  privileged  classes !  As  the 
national  finances  could  be  made  sound  only  by 
reforms  which  should  affect  those  classes,  there 
was  no  way  out.  Reform  was  blocked.  Necker, 
a  Genevan  banker,  succeeded  Turgot.  He  was  a 
man  who  had  risen  by  his  own  efforts  from  pov- 
erty to  great  wealth.  He,  too,  encountered  op- 
position the  instant  he  proposed  economies.  He 
took  a  step  which  infuriated  the  members  of  the 
court.  He  published  a  financial  report,  showing 
the  income  and  the  expenditures  of  the  state. 
This  had  never  been  done  before,  secrecy  having 
hitherto  prevailed  in  such  matters.  The  court 
was  indignant  that  such  high  mysteries  should 
.  be  revealed  to  the  masses,  particularly  as  the 
report  showed  just  how  much  went  annually  in 
pensions  to  the  courtiers,  as  free  gifts  for  which 
they  rendered  no  services  whatever.  For  such 
unconscionable  audacity  Necker  was  over- 
thrown, the  King  weakly  yielding  once  more  to 
pressure. 

This  time  the  court  took  no  chances,  but  se- 
cured a  minister  quite  according  to  the  heart's 
desire,  in  Calonne.  No  minister  of  finance  could 
be  more  agreeable.  Calonne's  purpose  was  to 
please,  and  please  he  did,  for  a  while.  The  wand 


io8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

of  Prospero  was  not  more  felicitous  in  its  en- 
chantments. The  members  of  the  court  had  only 
to  make  their  wishes  known  to  have  them  grati- 
fied. 

Calonne,  a  man  of  charm,  of  wit,  of  graceful 
address,  had  also  a  philosophy  of  the  gentle  art  of 
spending  which  was  highly  appreciated  by  those 
about  him.  "  A  man  who  wishes  to  borrow 
must  appear  to  be  rich,  and  to  appear  rich  he 
must  dazzle  by  spending  freely."  Money  flowed 
like  water  during  these  halcyon  times.  In  three 
years,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace,  Calonne  bor- 
rowed nearly  $300,000,000. 

It  seemed  too  good  to  be  true,  and  it  was,  by 
far.  The  evil  days  drew  nigh  for  an  accounting. 
It  was  found  in  August,  1786,  that  the  treasury 
was  empty  and  that  there  were  no  more  fools 
willing  to  loan  to  the  state.  It  was  a  rude  awak- 
ening from  a  blissful  dream.  But  Calonne  now 
showed,  what  he  had  not  shown  before,  some 
sense.  He  proposed  a  general  tax  which  should 
fall  upon  the  nobles  as  well  as  upon  commoners. 
It  was  therefore  his  turn  to  meet  the  same  op- 
position from  the  privileged  classes  which  Tur- 
got  and  Necker  had  met.  He,  too,  was  balked, 
and  resigned. 

His  successor,  Lomenie  de  Brienne,  encoun- 
tered a  similar  fate.  As  there  was  nothing  to  do 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       109 

but  to  propose  new  taxes,  he  proposed  them. 
The  Parlement  of  Paris  immediately  protested 
and  demanded  the  convocation  of  the  States- 
General,  asserting  the  far-reaching  principle 
that  taxes  can  only  be  imposed  by  those  who  are 
to  pay  them.  The  King  attempted  to  overawe 
the  parlement,  which,  in  turn,  defied  the  King. 
All  this,  however,  was  no  way  to  fill  an  empty 
treasury.  Finally  the  government  yielded  and 
summoned  the  States-General  to  meet  in  Ver- 
sailles on  May  i,  1789.  A  new  chapter,  of  incal- 
culable possibilities,  was  opened  in  the  history 
of  France.  Necker  was  recalled  to  head  the  min- 
istry, and  preparations  for  the  coming  meeting 
were  made. 

The  States-General,  or  assembly  representing 
the  three  estates  of  the  realm,  the  clergy,  the  no- 
bility, and  the  commoners,  was  an  old  institution 
in  France,  but  one  that  had  never  developed  as 
had  the  parliament  of  England.  The  last  meeting, 
indeed,  had  been  held  1 75  years  before.  The  insti- 
tution might  have  been  considered  dead.  Now, 
in  a  great  national  crisis,  it  was  revived,  in  the 
hope  that  it  might  pull  the  state  out  of  the  deplor- 
able situation  into  which  the  Bourbon  monarchy 
had  plunged  it.  But  the  States-General  was  a 
thoroughly  feudal  institution  and  France  was 
tired  of  feudalism.  Its  organization  no  longer 


i  io  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

conformed  to  the  wishes  or  needs  of  the  nation. 
Previously  each  one  of  the  three  estates  had  had 
an  equal  number  of  delegates,  and  the  delegates 
of  each  estate  had  met  separately.  It  was  a 
three-chambered  body,  with  two  of  the  chambers 
consisting  entirely  of  the  privileged  classes. 
There  was  objection  to  this  now,  since,  with  two 
against  one,  it  left  the  nation  exactly  where  it 
had  been,  in  the  power  of  the  privileged  classes. 
They  could  veto  anything  that  the  third  estate 
alone  wanted;  they  could  impose  anything  they 
chose  upon  the  third  estate,  by  their  vote  of  two 
to  one.  In  other  words,  if  organized  as  hitherto, 
they  could  prevent  all  reform  which  in  any  way 
affected  themselves,  and  yet  such  reform  was  an 
absolute  necessity.  Consulted  on  this  problem 
the  Parlement  of  Paris  pronounced  in  favor  of 
the  customary  organization;  in  other  words,  it- 
self a  privileged  body,  it  stood  for  privilege.  The 
parlement  immediately  became  as  unpopular  as 
it  had  previously  been  popular,  when  opposing 
the  monarch. 

Necker,  now  showing  one  of  his  chief  charac- 
teristics which  was  to  make  him  impossible  as  a 
leader  in  the  new  era,  half  settled  the  question 
and  left  it  half  unsettled.  He,  like  the  King, 
lacked  the  power  of  decision.  He  was  a  banker, 
not  a  statesman.  It  was  announced  that  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       in 

third  estate  should  have  as  many  members  as 
the  two  other  orders  combined.  Whether  the 
three  bodies  should  still  meet  and  vote  separately 
was  not  decided,  but  was  left  undetermined. 
But  of  what  avail  would  be  the  double  member- 
ship of  the  third  estate — representing  more  than 
nine-tenths  of  the  population — unless  all  three 
met  together,  unless  the  vote  was  by  individuals, 
not  by  chambers;  by  head,  as  the  phrase  ran,  and 
not  by  order?  In  dodging  this  question  Necker 
was  merely  showing  his  own  incapacity  for 
strong  leadership  and  was  laying  up  abundant 
trouble  for  the  immediate  future. 

The  States-General  met  on  May  5,  1789. 
There  were  about  1,200  members,  of  whom 
over  600  were  members  of  the  third  estate.  In 
reality,  however,  that  class  of  the  population  had 
a  much  larger  representation,  as,  of  the  300  rep- 
resentatives elected  by  the  clergy,  over  200  were 
parish  priests  or  monks,  all  commoners  by  origin 
and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  in  sympathy.  Each 
of  the  three  orders  had  elected  its  own  members. 
At  the  same  time  the  voters,  and  the  vote  was 
nearly  universal,  were  asked  to  draw  up  a  formal 
statement  of  their  grievances  and  of  the  reforms 
they  favored.  Fifty  or  sixty  thousand  of  these 
cahiers  have  come  down  to  us  and  present  a  vivid 
and  instructive  criticism  of  the  Old  Regime,  and 


ii2  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

a  statement  of  the  wishes  of  each  order.  On  cer- 
tain points  there  was  practical  unanimity  on  the 
part  of  clergy,  nobles,  and  commoners.  All 
ascribed  the  ills  from  which  the  country  suffered 
to  arbitrary,  uncontrolled  government,  all  talked 
of  the  necessity  of  confining  the  government 
within  just  limits  by  establishing  a  constitution 
which  should  define  the  rights  of  the  king  and 
of  the  people,  and  which  should  henceforth  be 
binding  upon  all.  Such  a  constitution  must  guar- 
antee individual  liberty,  the  right  to  think  and 
speak  and  write, — henceforth  no  lettres  de  cachet 
nor  censorship.  In  the  future  the  States-General 
should  meet  regularly  at  stated  times,  and 
should  share  the  lawmaking  power  and  alone 
should  vote  the  taxes,  and  taxes  should 
henceforth  be  paid  by  all.  The  clergy  and  no- 
bility almost  unanimously  agreed  in  their  cahiers 
to  relinquish  their  exemptions,  for  which  they 
had  fought  so  resolutely  only  two  years  before. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  third  estate  was  willing 
to  see  the  continuance  of  the  nobility  with  its 
rights  and  honors.  The  third  estate  demanded 
the  suppression  of  feudal  dues.  There  was  in 
their  cahiers  no  hint  of  a  desire  for  a  violent  revo- 
lution. They  all  expressed  a  deep  affection  for 
the  King,  gratitude  for  his  summoning  of  the 
States-General,  faith  that  the  worst  was  over, 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       113 

that  now,  in  a  union  of  all  hearts,  a  way  would 
easily  be  discovered  out  of  the  unhappy  plight 
in  which  the  nation  found  itself. 

An  immense  wave  of  hopefulness  swept  over 
the  land.  This  optimism  was  based  on  the  fact 
that  the  King,  when  consenting  to  call  the  States- 
General,  had  at  the  same  time  announced  his  ac- 
ceptance of  several  important  reforms,  such  as 
the  periodical  meeting  of  the  States-General,  its 
control  of  the  national  finances,  and  guarantees 
for  the  freedom  of  the  individual.  But  the  King's 
chief  characteristic,  as  we  have  seen,  was  his 
feebleness  of  will,  his  vacillation.  And  from  the 
day  the  deputies  arrived  in  Versailles  to  the  day 
of  his  violent  overthrow  this  was  a  fatal  factor 
in  the  history  of  the  times.  In  his  speech  open- 
ing the  States-General  on  May  5  the  King  said 
not  a  word  about  the  thought  that  was  in  every 
one's  mind,  the  making  of  a  constitution.  He 
merely  announced  that  it  had  been  called  to- 
gether to  bring  order  into  the  distracted  finances 
of  the  country.  Necker's  speech  was  no  more 
promising.  The  government,  moreover,  said 
nothing  about  whether  the  estates  should  vote  by 
order  or  by  head.  The  crux  of  the  whole  matter 
lay  there,  for  on  the  manner  of  organization  and 
procedure  depended  entirely  the  outcome.  The 
government  did  not  come  forward  with  any  pro- 


ii4  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

gram,  even  in  details.     It  shirked  its  responsi- 
bility and  lost  its  opportunity. 

A  needless  but  very  serious  crisis  was  the  re- 
sult. The  public  was  disappointed  and  apprehen- 
sive. Evidently  the  recent  liberalism  of  the 
King  had  evaporated  or  he  was  under  a  pressure 
which  he  had  not  strength  to  withstand.  A  con- 
flict between  the  orders  began  on  May  6  which 
lasted  until  the  end  of  June  and  which  ended  in 
embittering  relations  which  at  the  outset  had 
seemed  likely  to  be  cordial.  Should  the  voting 
be  by  order  or  by  member,  should  the  assembly 
consist  of  three  chambers  or  of  one?  The  diffi- 
culty arose  in  the  need  of  verifying  the  creden- 
tials of  the  members.  The  nobles  proceeded  to 
verify  as  a  separate  chamber,  by  a  vote  of  188  to 
47;  the  clergy  did  the  same,  but  by  a  smaller  ma- 
jority, 133  to  114.  But  the  third  estate  refused 
to  verify  until  it  should  be  decided  that  the  three 
orders  were  to  meet  together  in  one  indivisible 
assembly.  This  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death 
with  it,  or  at  least  of  power  or  impotence.  Both 
sides  stood  firm,  the  government  allowed  things 
to  drift,  angry  passions  began  to  develop. 
Until  organized  the  States-General  could  do  no 
business,  and  no  organization  could  be  effected 
until  this  crucial  question  was  settled.  Week 
after  week  went  by  and  the  dangerous  deadlock 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       115 

continued.  Verification  in  common  would  mean 
the  abandonment  of  the  class  system,  voting  by 
member  and  not  by  order,  and  the  consequent 
preponderance  of  the  third  estate,  which  consid- 
ered that  it  had  the  right  to  preponderate  as  rep- 
resenting over  nine-tenths  of  the  population. 
Fruitless  attempts  to  win  the  two  upper  orders 
by  inviting  them  to  join  the  third  estate  were 
repeatedly  made.  Finally  the  third  estate  an- 
nounced that  on  June  n  it  would  begin  verifica- 
tion and  the  other  orders  were  invited  for  the  last 
time.  Then  the  parish  priests  began  to  come 
over,  sympathizing  with  the  commoners  rather 
than  with  the  privileged  class  of  their  own  order. 
Finally  on  June  17  the  third  estate  took  the  mo- 
mentous step  of  declaring  itself  the  National  As- 
sembly, a  distinctly  revolutionary  proceeding. 

The  King  now,  under  pressure  from  the  court, 
made  a  decision,  highly  unwise  in  itself  and  fool- 
ishly executed.  When,  on  June  20,  the  members 
of  the  third  estate  went  to  their  usual  meeting- 
place  they  found  the  entrance  blocked  by  soldiers. 
They  were  told  that  there  was  to  be  a  special 
royal  session  later  and  that  the  hall  was  closed 
in  order  that  necessary  arrangements  might  be 
made  for  it,  a  pretext  as  miserable  as  it  was  vain. 
What  did  this  action  mean?  No  one  knew,  but 
every  one  was  apprehensive  that  it  meant  that 


u6  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

the  Assembly  itself,  in  which  such  earnest  hopes 
had  centered,  was  to  be  brought  to  an  untimely 
end  and  the  country  plunged  into  greater  misery 
than  ever  by  the  failure  of  the  great  experiment. 
For  a  moment  the  members  were  dismayed  and 
utterly  distracted.  Then,  as  by  a  common  im- 
pulse, they  rushed  to  a  neighboring  building  in  a 
side  street,  which  served  as  a  tennis  court.  There 
a  memorable  session  occurred,  in  the  large,  un- 
finished hall.  Lifting  their  president,  the  distin- 
guished astronomer,  Bailly,  to  a  table,  the  mem- 
bers surged  about  him,  ready,  it  seemed,  for  ex- 
treme measures.  There  they  took  the  famous 
Tennis  Court  Oath.  All  the  deputies  present, 
with  one  single  exception,  voted  "  never  to  sep- 
arate, and  to  reassemble  wherever  circumstances 
shall  require,  until  the  constitution  of  the  king- 
dom shall  be  established." 

On  the  23rd  occurred  the  royal  session  on 
which  the  privileged  classes  counted.  The  King 
pronounced  the  recent  acts  of  the  third  estate 
illegal  and  unconstitutional,  and  declared  that 
the  three  orders  should  meet  separately  and 
verify  their  credentials.  He  rose  and  left  the 
hall,  while  outside  the  bugles  sounded  around 
his  coach.  The  nobility,  triumphant,  withdrew 
from  the  hall ;  the  clergy  also.  But  in  the  center 
of  the  great  chamber  the  third  estate  remained, 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       117 

in  gloomy  silence.  This  was  one  of  the  solemn, 
critical  moments  of  history.  Suddenly  the  master 
of  ceremonies  advanced,  resplendent  in  his  offi- 
cial costume.  "  You  have  heard  the  King's  or- 
ders," he  said.  "  His  Majesty  requests  the  depu- 
ties of  the  third  estate  to  withdraw."  Behind 
the  grand  master,  at  the  door,  soldiers  were  seen. 
Were  they  there  to  clear  the  hall?  The  King 
had  given  his  orders.  To  leave  the  hall  meant 
abandonment  of  all  that  the  third  estate  stood 
for;  to  remain  meant  disobedience  to  the  express 
commands  of  the  King  and  probably  severe  pun- 
ishment. 

The  occasion  brought  forth  its  man.  Mira- 
beau,  a  noble  whom  his  fellow  nobles  had  refused 
to  elect  to  the  States-General  and  who  had  then 
been  chosen  by  the  third  estate,  now  arose  and 
advanced  impetuously  and  imperiously  toward 
the  master  of  ceremonies,  de  Breze",  and  with 
thunderous  voice  exclaimed,  "  Go  tell  your  mas- 
ter that  we  are  here  by  the  will  of  the  people 
and  that  we  shall  not  leave  except  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet."  Then  on  motion  of  Mirabeau 
it  was  voted  that  all  persons  who  should  lay  vio- 
lent hands  on  any  members  of  the  National  As- 
sembly would  be  "  infamous  and  traitors  to  the 
nation  and  guilty  of  capital  crime."  De  Breze 
reported  the  defiant  eloquence  to  the  King.  All 


ii8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  latter.  Not  knowing 
what  to  do  he  made  a  motion  indicating  weari- 
ness, then  said:  "  They  wish  to  remain,  do  they? 
Well,  let  them." 

Two  days  later  a  majority  of  the  clergy  and  a 
minority  of  the  nobility  came  over  to  the  Assem- 
bly. On  June  27  the  King  commanded  the  no- 
bility and  clergy  to  sit  with  the  third  estate  in  a 
single  assembly.  Thus  the  question  was  finally 
settled,  which  should  have  been  settled  before  the 
first  meeting  in  May.  The  National  Assembly 
was  now  complete.  It  immediately  appointed  a 
committee  on  the  constitution.  The  National 
Assembly,  accomplished  by  this  fusion  of  the 
three  estates,  adopted  the  title  Constituent  As- 
sembly because  of  the  character  of  the  work  it 
had  to  do. 

No  sooner  was  this  crisis  over  than  another 
began  to  develop.  A  second  attempt  was  made 
by  the  King,  again  inspired  by  the  court,  to  sup- 
press the  Assembly  or  effectively  to  intimidate 
it,  to  regain  the  ground  that  had  been  lost.  Con- 
siderable bodies  of  soldiers  began  to  appear  near 
Versailles  and  Paris.  They  were  chiefly  the 
foreign  mercenaries,  or  the  troops  from  frontier 
stations,  supposedly  less  responsive  to  the  popu- 
lar emotions.  On  July  n  Necker  and  his  col- 
leagues, favorable  to  reform,  were  suddenly  dis- 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       119 

missed  and  Necker  was  ordered  to  leave  the 
country  immediately.  What  could  all  this  mean 
but  that  reaction  and  repression  were  coming 
and  that  things  were  to  be  put  back  where  they 
had  been?  The  Assembly  was  in  great  danger, 
yet  it  possessed  no  physical  force.  What  could 
it  do  if  troops  were  sent  against  it? 

The  violent  intervention  of  the  city  of  Paris 
saved  the  day  and  gave  the  protection  which  the 
nation's  representatives  lacked,  assuring  their 
continuance.  The  storming  of  the  Bastille  was  an 
incident  which  seized  instantly  the  imagination 
of  the  world,  and  which  was  disfigured  and  trans- 
figured by  a  mass  of  legends  that  sprang  up  on  the 
very  morrow  of  the  event.  The  Bastille  was  a 
fortress  commanding  the  eastern  section  of  Paris. 
It  was  used  as  a  state  prison  and  had  had  many 
distinguished  occupants,  among  others  Voltaire 
and  Mirabeau,  thrown  into  it  by  lettres  de  cachet. 
It  was  an  odious  symbol  of  arbitrary  govern- 
ment and  it  was  also  a  strong  fortress  which 
these  newly  arriving  troops  might  use.  There 
was  a  large  discontented  and  miserable  class  in 
Paris;  also  a  lively  band  of  radical  or  liberal  men 
who  were  in  favor  of  reform  and  were  alarmed 
and  indignant  at  every  rumor  that  the  Assembly 
on  which  such  hopes  were  pinned  was  in  danger. 
Paris  was  on  the  side  of  the  Assembly,  and  when 


120  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

the  news  of  the  dismissal  of  Necker  arrived  it 
took  fire.  Rumors  of  the  most  alarming  charac- 
ter spread  rapidly.  Popular  meetings  were  ad- 
dressed by  impromptu  and  impassioned  orators. 
The  people  began  to  pillage  the  shops  where 
arms  were  to  be  found.  Finally  they  attacked 
the  Bastille  and  after  a  confused  and  bloody 
battle  of  several  hours  the  fortress  was  in  their 
hands.  They  had  lost  about  200  men,  killed  or 
wounded.  The  crowd  savagely  murdered  the 
commander  of  the  fortress  and  several  of  the 
Swiss  Guard.  Though  characterized  by  these 
and  other  acts  of  barbarism,  nevertheless  the 
seizure  of  the  Bastille  was  everywhere  regarded 
in  France  and  abroad  as  the  triumph  of  liberty. 
Enthusiasm  was  widespread.  The  Fourteenth 
of  July  was  declared  the  national  holiday  and  a 
new  flag,  the  tricolor,  the  red,  white,  and  blue, 
was  adopted  in  place  of  the  old  white  banner  of 
the  Bourbons,  studded  with  the  fleur-de-lis. 
At  the  same  time,  quite  spontaneously,  Paris 
gave  itself  a  new  form  of  municipal  government, 
superseding  the  old  royal  form,  and  organized 
a  new  military  force,  the  National  Guard,  which 
was  destined  to  become  famous.  Three  days 
later  Louis  XVI  came  to  the  capital  and  formally 
ratified  these  changes. 

Meanwhile  similar  changes  were  made  all  over 


France.  Municipal  governments  on  an  elective 
basis  and  national  guards  were  created  every- 
where in  imitation  of  Paris.  The  movement  ex- 
tended to  rural  France.  There  the  peasants,  im- 
patient that  the  Assembly  had  let  two  months 
go  by  without  suppressing  the  feudal  dues,  took 
things  into  their  own  hands.  They  turned  upon 
their  oppressors  and  made  a  violent  "  war  upon 
the  chateaux,"  destroying  the  records  of  feudal 
dues  if  they  could  find  them  or  if  the  owners  gave 
them  up;  if  not,  frequently  burning  the  chateaux 
themselves  in  order  to  burn  the  odious  docu- 
ments. Day  after  day  in  the  closing  week  of 
July,  1789,  the  destructive  and  incendiary  process 
went  on  amid  inevitable  excesses  and  disorders. 
In  this  method  feudalism  was  abolished — not 
legally  but  practically.  It  remained  to  be  seen 
what  the  effect  of  this  victory  of  the  people  would 
be  upon  the  National  Assembly. 

Its  effect  was  immediate  and  sensational.  On 
the  4th  of  August  a  committee  on  the  state  of 
the  nation  made  a  report,  describing  the  inci- 
dents which  were  occurring  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  chateaux  burn- 
ing, unpopular  tax-collectors  assaulted,  millers 
hanged,  lawlessness  triumphant.  It  was  night 
before  the  stupefying  report  was  finished.  Sud- 
denly at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  as  the  ses- 


122  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

sion  was  about  to  close,  a  nobleman,  the  Viscount 
of  Noailles,  rushed  to  the  platform.  The  only 
reason,  he  said,  why  the  people  had  devastated 
the  chateaux  was  the  heavy  burden  of  the 
seignorial  dues,  odious  reminders  of  feudalism. 
These  must  be  swept  away.  He  so  moved  and 
instantly  another  noble,  the  Duke  d'Aiguillon, 
next  to  the  King  the  greatest  feudal  lord  in 
France,  seconded  the  motion.  A  frenzy  of  gen- 
erosity seized  the  Assembly.  Noble  vied  with 
noble  in  the  enthusiasm  of  renunciation.  The 
Bishop  of  Nancy  renounced  the  privileges  of  his 
order.  Parish  priests  renounced  their  fees. 
Judges  discarded  their  distinctions.  Rights  of 
chase,  rights  of  tithes  went  by  the  board.  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  cities  and  provinces  gave  up 
their  privileges,  Brittany,  Burgundy,  Lorraine, 
Languedoc.  A  veritable  delirium  of  joy  swept 
in  wave  after  wave  over  the  Assembly.  All  night 
long  the  excitement  continued  amid  tears,  em- 
braces, rapturous  applause,  a  very  ecstasy  of  pa- 
triotic abandonment,  and  by  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing thirty  decrees,  more  or  less,  had  been  passed 
and  the  most  extraordinary  social  revolution  that 
any  nation  has  known  had  been  voted.  The  feudal 
dues  were  dead.  Tithes  were  abandoned;  the 
guilds,  with  their  narrow  restrictions,  were  swept 
away;  no  longer  were  offices  to  be  purchasable, 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       123 

but  henceforth  all  Frenchmen  were  to  be  equally 
eligible  to  all  public  positions;  justice  was  to  be 
free;  provinces  and  individuals  were  all  to  be  on 
the  same  plane.  Distinctions  of  class  were  abol- 
ished. The  principle  of  equality  was  henceforth 
to  be  the  basis  of  the  state. 

Years  later  participants  in  this  memorable  ses- 
sion, in  which  a  social  revolution  was  accom- 
plished, or  at  least  promised,  spoke  of  it  with  ex- 
citement and  enthusiasm.  The  astonishing  ses- 
sion was  closed  with  a  Te  Deum  in  the  chapel  of 
the  royal  palace,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris,  and  Louis  XVI,  who  had  had  no 
more  to  do  with  all  this  than  you  or  I,  was  offi- 
cially proclaimed  by  the  Assembly  the  "  Restorer 
of  French  Liberty." 

Thus  was  the  dead  weight  of  an  oppressive, 
unjust  past  lifted  from  the  nation's  shoulders. 
Grievances,  centuries  old,  vanished  into  the 
night.  That  it  needed  time  to  work  out  all  these 
tumultuous  and  rapturous  resolutions  into  clear 
and  just  laws  was  a  fact  ignored  by  the  people, 
who  regarded  them  as  real  legislation,  not  as  a 
program  merely  sketched,  to  be  rilled  in  slowly 
in  detail.  Hence  when  men  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  not  everything  was  what  it  seemed,  that 
before  the  actual  application  of  all  these  changes 
many  adjustments  must  or  should  be  made,  there 


124  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

was  some  friction,  some  disappointment,  some 
impatience.  The  clouds  speedily  gathered  again. 
Because  a  number  of  nobles  and  bishops  had  in 
an  outburst  of  generosity  relinquished  all  their 
privileges,  it  was  not  at  all  certain  that  their  ac- 
tion would  be  ratified  by  even  the  majority  of 
their  orders  and  it  was  indeed  likely  that  the  con- 
trary would  prove  true.  The  contagion  might 
not  extend  beyond  the  walls  of  the  Assembly 
hall.  And  many  even  of  those  who  had  shared 
the  fine  enthusiasm  of  that  stirring  session  might 
feel  differently  on  the  morrow.  This  proved  to 
be  the  case,  and  soon  two  parties  appeared, 
sharply  differentiated,  the  upholders  of  the  revo- 
lution thus  far  accomplished  and  those  who 
wished  to  undo  it  and  to  recover  their  lost  ad- 
vantages. The  latter  were  called  counter-revolu- 
tionaries. From  this  time  on  they  were  a  factor, 
frequently  highly  significant,  in  the  history  of 
modern  France.  Although  after  the  Fourteenth 
of  July  the  more  stiff-necked  and  angry  of  the 
courtiers,  led  by  the  Count  of  Artois,  brother  of 
the  King,  had  left  the  country  and  had  begun 
that  "emigration"  which  was  to  do  much  to  em- 
broil France  with  Europe,  yet  many  courtiers 
still  remained  and,  with  the  powerful  aid  of  Marie 
Antoinette,  played  upon  the  feeble  monarch. 
The  Queen,  victim  of  slanders  and  insults,  was 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       125 

temperamentally  and  intellectually  incapable  of 
understanding  or  sympathizing  with  the  reform 
movement.  She  stiffened  under  the  attacks,  her 
pride  was  fired,  and  she  did  what  she  could  to 
turn  back  the  tide,  with  results  highly  disastrous 
to  herself  and  to  the  monarchy.  Another  feature 
of  the  situation  was  the  subterranean  intriguing, 
none  the  less  real  because  difficult  accurately  to 
describe,  of  certain  individuals  who  thought  they 
had  much  to  gain  by  troubling  the  waters,  such 
as  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  cousin  of  the  King,  im- 
mensely wealthy  and  equally  unscrupulous,  who 
nourished  the  scurvy  ambition  of  overthrowing 
Louis  XVI  and  of  putting  the  House  of  Orleans 
in  place  of  the  House  of  Bourbon.  All  through 
the  Revolution  we  find  such  elements  of  personal 
ambition  or  malevolence,  anxious  to  profit  by 
fomenting  the  general  unrest.  At  every  stage  in 
this  strange,  eventful  history  we  observe  the 
mixture  of  the  mean  with  the  generous,  the  in- 
sincere with  the  candid,  the  hypocritical  and  the 
oblique  with  the  honest  and  the  patriotic.  It 
was  a  web  woven  of  mingled  yarn. 

Such  were  some  of  the  possible  seeds  of  future 
trouble.  In  addition,  increasing  the  general 
sense  of  anxiety  and  insecurity,  was  the  fact  that 
two  months  went  by  and  yet  the  King  did  not 
ratify  or  accept  the  decrees  of  August  4,  which, 


ia6  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

without  his  acceptance,  lacked  legal  force.  Cer- 
tain articles  of  the  constitution  had  been  already 
drafted,  and  these,  too,  had  not  yet  received  the 
royal  sanction.  Was  the  King  plotting  some- 
thing, or  were  the  plotters  about  him  getting  con- 
trol of  him  once  more?  The  people  lived  in  an 
atmosphere  of  suspicion;  also  thousands  and 
thousands  of  them  were  on  the  point  of  starva- 
tion, and  the  terror  of  famine  reinforced  the  ter- 
ror of  suspicion. 

Out  of  this  wretched  condition  of  discontent 
and  alarm  was  born  another  of  the  famous  inci- 
dents of  the  Revolution.  Early  in  October  ru- 
mors reached  Paris  that  at  a  banquet  offered  at 
Versailles  to  some  of  the  crack  regiments  that 
had  been  summoned  there  the  tricolor  had  been 
stamped  upon,  that  threats  had  been  made 
against  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  Queen,  by  her 
presence,  had  sanctioned  these  outrages. 

On  October  5  several  thousand  women  of  the 
people,  set  in  motion  in  some  obscure  way, 
started  to  march  to  Versailles,  drawing  cannon 
with  them.  It  was  said  they  were  going  to  de- 
mand the  reduction  of  the  price  of  bread  and  at 
the  same  time  to  see  that  those  who  had  insulted 
the  national  flag  should  be  punished.  They  were 
followed  by  thousands  of  men,  out  of  work,  and 
by  many  doubtful  characters.  Lafayette,  hastily 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       127 

gathering  some  of  the  guards,  started  after  them. 
That  evening  the  motley  and  sinister  crowd 
reached  Versailles  and  bivouacked  in  the  streets 
and  in  the  vast  court  of  the  royal  palace.  All 
night  long  obscure  preparations  as  for  a  battle 
went  on.  On  the  morning  of  the  6th  the  crowd 
forced  the  gates,  killed  several  of  the  guards,  and 
invaded  the  palace,  even  reaching  the  entrance 
to  the  Queen's  apartments.  The  Queen  fled  to 
the  apartments  of  the  King  for  safety.  The  King 
finally  appeared  on  a  balcony,  surrounded  by 
members  of  his  family,  addressed  the  crowd,  and 
promised  them  food.  The  outcome  of  this  ex- 
traordinary and  humiliating  day  was  that  the 
King  was  persuaded  to  leave  the  proud  palace  of 
Versailles  and  go  to  Paris  to  live,  in  the  midst  of 
his  so-called  subjects.  At  two  o'clock  the  grim 
procession  began.  The  entire  royal  family,  eight 
persons,  packed  into  a  single  carriage,  started 
for  Paris,  drawn  at  a  walk,  surrounded  by  the 
women,  and  by  bandits  who  carried  on  pikes  the 
heads  of  the  guards  who  had  been  killed  at  the 
entrance  to  the  palace.  "We  are  bringing  back 
the  baker,  and  the  baker's  wife,  and  the  baker's 
son!"  shouted  the  women.  At  eleven  o'clock 
that  night  Louis  XVI  was  in  the  Tuileries. 

Ten  days  later  the  Assembly  followed.     The 
King  and  the  Assembly  were  now  under  the  daily 


128  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

supervision  of  the  people  of  Paris.  In  reality  they 
were  prisoners.  Versailles  was  definitely  aban- 
doned. From  this  moment  dates  the  great  influ- 
ence of  the  capital.  A  single  city  was  henceforth 
always  in  position  to  dominate  the  Assembly. 
The  people  could  easily  bring  their  pressure  to 
bear,  for  they  were  admitted  to  the  thousand  or 
more  seats  in  the  gallery  of  the  Assembly's  hall 
of  meeting  and  they  considered  that  they  had  the 
freedom  of  the  place,  hissing  unpopular  speak- 
ers, vociferating  their  wishes.  Those  who  could 
not  get  in  congregated  outside,  arguing  violently 
the  measures  that  were  being  discussed  within. 
Now  and  then  some  one  would  announce  to  them 
from  the  windows  how  matters  were  proceeding 
in  the  hall.  Shouts  of  approval  or  disapproval 
thus  reached  the  members  from  the  vehement 
audience  outside. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

THE  States-General  which  met  in  May,  1789, 
had  in  June  adopted  the  name  National  As- 
sembly. This  body  is  also  known  as  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  as  its  chief  work  was  the 
making  of  a  constitution.  It  had  begun  work 
upon  the  constitution  while  still  in  Versailles, 
and  the  first  fruit  of  its  labors  was  the 
Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  a  state- 
ment of  the  rights  which  belong  to  men  because 
they  are  human  beings,  which  are  not  the 
gift  of  any  government.  The  declaration  was 
drawn  up  in  imitation  of  American  usage.  La- 
fayette, a  hero  of  the  American  Revolution,  as 
now  a  prominent  figure  in  the  French,  brought 
forward  a  draft  of  a  declaration  just  before  the 
storming  of  the  Bastille.  He  urged  two  chief 
reasons  for  its  adoption:  first,  it  would  present 
the  people  with  a  clear  conception  of  the  elements 
of  liberty  which,  once  understanding,  they  would 
insist  upon  possessing;  and,  secondly,  it  would 
be  an  invaluable  guide  for  the  Assembly  in  its 
work  of  elaborating  the  constitution.  All  propo- 

129 


130  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

sitions  could  be  tested  by  comparison  with  its 
carefully  defined  principles.  It  would  be  a  guar- 
antee against  mistakes  or  errors  by  the  Assembly 
itself.  Another  orator  paid  a  tribute  to  America, 
explaining  why  "  the  noble  idea  of  this  declara- 
tion, conceived  in  another  hemisphere  "  ought  to 
be  transplanted  to  France.  Opponents  of  such 
a  statement  declared  it  useless  and  harmful  be- 
cause bound  to  distract  the  members  from  impor- 
tant labors,  as  tending  to  waste  time  on  doubtful 
generalizations,  as  leading  to  hair-splitting  and 
endless  debate,  when  the  Assembly's  attention 
ought  to  be  focussed  on  the  pressing  problems  of 
legislation  and  administration.  The  Assembly 
took  the  side  of  Lafayette  and,  after  intermittent 
discussion,  composed  the  notable  document  in 
August,  1789.  As  a  result  of  the  events  of  Octo- 
ber 5,  described  above,  the  King  accepted  it. 
The  declaration,  which  has  been  called  "the 
most  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  the  growth 
of  democratic  and  republican  ideas"  in  France, 
as  "the  gospel  of  modern  times,"  was  not  the 
work  of  any  single  mind,  nor  of  any  committee 
or  group  of  leaders.  Its  collaborators  were  very 
numerous.  The  political  discussions  of  the 
eighteenth  century  furnished  many  of  the  ideas 
and  even  some  of  the  phrases.  English  and 
American  example  counted  for  much.  The  ne- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    131 

cessities  of  the  national  situation  were  factors  of 
importance. 

The  National  Assembly  has  often  been  severely 
criticised  for  devoting  time,  in  a  period  of  crisis, 
to  a  declaration  which  the  critics  in  the  same 
breath  pronounce  a  tissue  of  abstractions,  of 
doubtful  philosophical  theories,  topics  for  ever- 
lasting discussion.  "A  tourney  of  metaphysical 
speculations"  is  what  one  writer  calls  it.  But  a 
study  of  the  situation  shows  that  the  idea  of  a 
declaration  and  the  idea  of  a  constitution  were 
indissolubly  connected.  The  one  was  essential 
to  the  other  in  a  country  which  had  no  historic 
principles  of  freedom.  French  liberty  could  not 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  like  English  liberty, 
slowly  broaden  down  from  precedent  to  prece- 
dent. It  must  begin  abruptly  and  with  a  distinct 
formulation.  After  the  enunciation  of  the  prin- 
ciples would  naturally  come  their  conversion  into 
fact. 

The  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  laid 
down  the  principles  of  modern  governments. 
The  men  who  drew  up  that  document  believed 
these  principles  to  be  universally  true  and  every- 
where applicable.  They  did  not  establish  rights 
— they  merely  declared  them.  Frenchmen  well 
knew  that  they  were  composing  a  purely  dogmatic 
text.  But  that  such  a  text  was  extremely  useful 


132  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

they  believed.  And  the  reason  why  they  believed 
this  was  that  they  had  a  profound  faith  in  the 
power  of  truth,  of  reason.  This  was,  as  Michelet 
pointed  out  long  ago,  the  essential  originality  of 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  this  "singular  faith 
in  the  power  of  ideas,"  this  firm  belief  that  "once 
formed  and  formulated  in  law  the  truth  was  in- 
vincible." These  political  dogmas  seemed  to  the 
members  of  the  Assembly  so  true  that  they 
thought  they  had  only  to  proclaim  them  to  insure 
their  efficiency  in  the  actual  conduct  of  govern- 
ments. These  men  believed  that  they  were  in- 
augurating a  new  phase  in  the  history  of  hu- 
manity, that,  by  solemnly  formulating  the  creed 
of  the  future,  they  were  rendering  an  inestimable 
service,  not  to  France  alone  but  to  the  world. 
Though  America  had  set  an  example,  it  was  felt 
that  France  could  "perfect"  it  for  the  other 
hemisphere  and  that  the  new  declaration  might 
perhaps  have  the  advantage  over  the  other  of 
making  "a  loftier  appeal  to  reason  and  of  cloth- 
ing her  in  a  purer  language." 

The  seventeen  articles  of  this  creed  asserted 
that  men  are  free  and  equal,  that  the  people  are 
sovereign,  that  law  is  an  expression  of  the  popu- 
lar will,  and  that  in  the  making  of  it  the  people 
may  participate,  either  directly,  or  indirectly 
through  their  representatives,  and  that  all  offi- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    133 

cials  possess  only  that  authority  which  has  been 
definitely  given  them  by  law.  All  those  liberties 
of  the  person,  of  free  speech,  free  assembly,  jus- 
tice administered  by  one's  peers,  which  had  been 
worked  out  in  England  and  America  were  as- 
serted. These  principles  were  the  opposite  of 
those  of  the  Old  Regime.  If  incorporated  in  laws 
and  institutions  they  meant  the  permanent  aboli- 
tion of  that  system. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  expectation  that  the  Dec- 
laration would  constitute  a  new  evangel  for  the 
world  has  not  proved  so  great  an  exaggeration 
as  the  optimism  of  its  authors  and  the  pessimism 
of  its  critics  would  prompt  one  to  think.  When 
men  wish  anywhere  to  recall  the  rights  of  man 
it  is  this  French  document  that  they  have  in 
mind.  The  Declaration  long  ago  passed  beyond 
the  frontiers  of  France.  It  has  been  studied, 
copied,  or  denounced  nearly  everywhere.  It  has 
been  an  indisputable  factor  in  the  political  and 
social  evolution  of  modern  Europe.  During  the 
past  century,  whenever  a  nation  has  aspired  to 
liberty,  it  has  sought  its  principles  in  the  Dec- 
laration. "It  has  found  there,"  says  a  recent 
writer,  "five  or  six  formulas  as  trenchant  as 
mathematical  propositions,  true  as  the  truth  it- 
self, intoxicating  as  a  vision  of  the  absolute." 

The  Declaration  was,  of  course,  only  an  ideal, 


134  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

a  goal  toward  which  society  should  aim,  not  a 
fulfilment.  It  was  a  list  of  principles,  not  the 
realization  of  those  principles.  It  was  a  declara- 
tion of  rights,  not  a  guarantee  of  rights.  The 
problem  of  how  to  guarantee  what  was  so  suc- 
cinctly declared  has  filled  more  than  a  century 
of  French  history,  and  is  still  incompletely 
solved.  We  shall  now  see  how  far  the  Assem- 
bly which  drafted  this  Declaration  was  willing 
or  able  to  go  in  applying  its  principles  in  the  con- 
stitution, of  which  it  was  the  preamble. 

The  constitution  was  only  slowly  elaborated. 
Some  of  its  more  fundamental  articles  were 
adopted  in  1789.  But  numerous  laws  were  passed 
in  1790  and  1791,  which  were  really  parts  of  the 
constitution.  Thus  it  grew  piece  by  piece. 
Finally  all  this  legislation  was  revised,  retouched, 
and  codified  into  a  single  document,  which  was 
accepted  by  the  King  in  1791.  Though  some- 
times called  the  Constitution  of  1789,  it  is  more 
generally  and  more  correctly  known  as  the  Con- 
stitution of  1791.  It  was  the  first  written  consti- 
tution France  had  ever  had.  Framed  under  very 
different  conditions  from  those  under  which  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  had  been 
framed  only  a  short  time  before,  it  resembled 
the  work  of  the  Philadelphia  Convention  in  that 
it  was  conspicuously  the  product  of  the  spirit  of 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    135 

compromise.  With  the  exception  of  the  vigor- 
ous assertions  of  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights 
of  Man,  the  document  was  marked  by  as  great 
a  moderation  as  was  consistent  with  the  thor- 
oughgoing changes  that  were  demanded  by  the 
overwhelming  public  opinion,  as  represented  in 
the  cahiers.  It  is  permeated  through  and  through 
with  two  principles,  the  sovereignty  of  the  peo- 
ple, all  governmental  powers  issuing  from  their 
consent  and  will,  and  the  separation  of  the 
powers  sharply  from  each  other,  of  the  execu- 
tive, the  legislative,  and  the  judicial  branches,  a 
division  greatly  emphasized  by  Montesquieu  as 
the  sole  method  of  insuring  liberty. 

The  form  of  government  was  to  be  monarchi- 
cal. This  was  in  conformity  with  the  wishes 
of  the  people  as  expressed  in  the  cahiers,  and 
with  the  feelings  of  the  Constituent  Assem- 
bly. But  whereas  formerly  the  king  was  an 
absolute,  henceforth  he  was  to  be  a  limited,  a 
constitutional  ruler.  Indicative  of  the  pro- 
found difference  between  these  two  concep- 
tions, his  former  title,  King  of  France  and  of 
Navarre,  now  gave  way  to  that  of  King  of  the 
French.  Whereas  formerly  he  had  taken  what 
he  chose  out  of  the  national  treasury  for  his  per- 
sonal use,  now  he  was  to  receive  a  salary  or  civil 
list  of  the  definite  amount — and  no  more — of 


136  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

25,000,000  francs.  He  was  to  appoint  the  minis- 
ters or  heads  of  the  cabinet  departments,  but  he 
was  forbidden  to  select  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture for  such  positions.  The  English  system 
of  parliamentary  government  was  deliberately 
avoided  because  it  was  believed  to  be  vicious  in 
that  ministers  could  bribe  or  influence  the  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  to  do  their  will,  which  might 
not  at  all  be  the  will  of  the  people.  Ministers 
were  not  even  to  be  permitted  to  come  be- 
fore the  legislature  to  defend  or  explain  their 
policies. 

A  departure  from  the  principle  of  the  separa- 
tion of  powers,  in  general  so  closely  followed, 
was  shown  in  the  granting  of  the  veto  power  to 
the  king.  The  king,  who  had  hitherto  made  the 
laws,  was  now  deprived  of  the  lawmaking  power, 
but  he  could  prevent  the  immediate  enforcement 
of  an  act  passed  by  the  legislature.  There  was 
much  discussion  over  this  subject  in  the  Assem- 
bly. Some  were  opposed  to  any  kind  of  a  veto; 
others  wanted  one  that  should  be  absolute  and 
final.  The  Assembly  compromised  and  granted 
the  king  a  suspensive  veto,  that  is,  he  might  pre- 
vent the  application  of  a  law  voted  by  two  suc- 
cessive legislatures,  that  is,  for  a  possible  period 
of  four  years.  If  the  third  legislature  should 
indicate  its  approval  of  the  law  in  question,  then 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    137 

it  was  to  be  put  into  operation  whether  the  king 
assented  or  not. 

The  king  was  to  retain  the  conduct  of  foreign 
affairs  in  his  own  hands.  He  was  to  appoint  and 
receive  ambassadors;  was  to  be  the  head  of  the 
navy  and  army  and  was  to  appoint  to  higher 
offices.  The  Assembly  at  first  thought  of  leaving 
him  the  right  to  make  peace  and  war,  then,  fear- 
ing that  he  might  drag  the  nation  into  a  war  for 
personal  or  dynastic  and  not  national  purposes, 
it  decided  that  he  might  propose  peace  or  war, 
but  that  the  legislature  should  decide  upon  it. 

The  legislative  power  was  given  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  1791  to  a  single  assembly  of  745  mem- 
bers, to  be  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years.  Sev- 
eral of  the  deputies  desired  a  legislature  of  two 
chambers,  and  cited  the  example  of  England  and 
America.  But  the  second  chamber  in  England 
was  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  French,  who 
had  abolished  the  nobility,  had  no  desire  to  estab- 
lish an  hereditary  chamber.  Moreover  the  Eng- 
lish system  was  based  on  the  principle  of  inequal- 
ity. The  French  were  founding  their  new  sys- 
tem upon  the  principle  of  equality.  Even  among 
the  nobles  themselves  there  was  opposition  to  a 
second  chamber — the  provincial  nobility  fearing 
that  only  the  court  nobles  would  be  members  of 
it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Senate  of  the  United 


138  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

States  was  a  concession  to  the  states-rights  feel- 
ing, a  feeling  which  the  French  wished  to  de- 
stroy by  abolishing  the  provinces  and  the  local 
provincial  patriotism,  by  thoroughly  unifying 
France.  Thus  the  plan  of  dividing  the  legisla- 
ture into  two  chambers  was  deliberately  rejected, 
for  what  seemed  good  and  sufficient  reasons. 

How  was  this  legislature  to  be  chosen?  Here 
we  find  a  decided  departure  from  the  spirit  and 
the  letter  of  the  Declaration,  which  had  asserted 
that  all  men  are  equal  in  rights.  Did  not  this 
mean  universal  suffrage?  Such  at  least  was  not 
the  opinion  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  which 
now  made  a  distinction  between  citizens,  declaring 
some  active,  some  passive.  To  be  considered  an 
active  citizen  one  must  be  at  least  twenty-five 
years  of  age  and  must  pay  annually  in  direct 
taxes  the  equivalent  of  three  days'  wages.  This 
excluded  the  poor  from  this  class,  and  the  num- 
ber was  large.  It  has  been  estimated  that  there 
were  somewhat  over  4,000,000  active  citizens  and 
about  3,000,000  passive. 

The  active  citizens  alone  had  the  right  to  vote. 
But  even  they  did  not  vote  directly  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature.  They  chose  electors  at 
the  ratio  of  one  for  every  100  active  citizens. 
These  electors  must  meet  a  much  higher  prop- 
erty qualification,  the  equivalent  of  from  150  to 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    139 

200  days'  wages  in  direct  taxes.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  this  resulted  in  rendering  eligible  as  electors 
only  about  43,000  individuals.  These  electors 
chose  the  members  of  the  legislature,  the  depu- 
ties. They  also  chose  the  judges  under  the  new 
system.  Thus  the  Constituent  Assembly,  so 
zealous  in  abolishing  old  privileges,  was,  in  de- 
fiance of  its  own  principles,  establishing  new 
ones.  Political  rights  in  the  new  state  were  made 
the  monopoly  of  those  who  possessed  a  certain 
amount  of  property.  There  was  no  property 
qualification  required  for  deputies.  Any  active 
citizen  was  eligible,  but  as  the  deputies  were 
elected  by  the  propertied  men,  they  would  in  all 
probability  choose  only  propertied  men — the 
electors  would  choose  from  their  own  class. 

The  judicial  power  was  completely  revolution- 
ized. Hitherto  judges  had  bought  their  posi- 
tions, which  carried  with  them  titles  and  privi- 
leges and  which  they  might  pass  on  to  their  sons. 
Henceforth  all  judges,  of  whatever  rank  in  the 
hierarchy,  were  to  be  elected  by  the  electors  de- 
scribed above.  Their  terms  were  to  range  from 
two  to  four  years.  The  jury,  something  hitherto 
absolutely  unknown  to  modern  France,  was  now 
introduced  for  criminal  cases.  Hitherto  the 
judge  had  decided  all  cases. 

For  purposes  of  administration  and  local  gov- 


i4o  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ernment  a  new  system  was  established.  The  old 
thirty-two  provinces  were  abolished  and  France 
was  divided  into  eighty-three  departments  of 
nearly  uniform  size.  The  departments  were 
divided  into  arrondissements,  these  into  cantons, 
and  these  into  municipalities  or  communes. 
These  are  terms  which  have  ever  since  been  in 
vogue. 

France,  from  being  a  highly  centralized  state, 
became  one  highly  decentralized.  Whereas  for- 
merly the  central  government  was  represented  in 
each  province  by  its  own  agents  or  office-holders, 
the  intendants  and  their  subordinates,  in  the  de- 
partments of  the  future  the  central  government 
was  to  have  no  representatives.  The  electors 
were  to  choose  the  local  departmental  officials. 
It  would  be  the  business  of  these  officials  to  carry 
out  the  decrees  of  the  central  government — but 
what  if  they  should  disobey?  The  central  gov- 
ernment would  have  no  control  over  them,  as  it 
would  not  appoint  them  and  could  neither  re- 
move nor  discipline  them. 

The  Constitution  of  1791  represented  an  im- 
provement in  French  government ;  yet  it  did  not 
work  well  and  did  not  last  long.  As  a  first  ex- 
periment in  the  art  of  self-government  it  had  its 
value,  but  it  revealed  inexperience  and  poor  judg- 
ment in  several  points  which  prepared  trouble 


FRAXCE 

BY 

DEPARTMENTS 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    141 

for  the  future.  The  executive  and  the  legisla- 
ture were  so  sharply  separated  that  communica- 
tion between  them  was  difficult  and  suspicion 
was  consequently  easily  fostered.  The  king 
might  not  select  his  ministers  from  the  legisla- 
ture, he  might  not,  in  case  of  a  difference  of 
opinion  with  the  legislature,  dissolve  the  latter, 
as  the  English  king  could  do,  thus  allowing  the 
voters  to  decide  between  them.  The  king's  veto 
was  not  a  weapon  strong  enough  to  protect  him 
from  the  attacks  of  the  Assembly,  yet  it  was 
enough  to  irritate  the  Assembly,  if  used.  The 
distinction  between  active  and  passive  citizens 
was  in  plain  and  flagrant  defiance  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  inevitably  created 
a  discontented  class.  The  administrative  decen- 
tralization was  so  complete  that  the  efficiency  of 
the  national  government  was  gone.  France  was 
split  up  into  eighty-three  fragments,  and  the  co- 
ordination of  all  these  units,  their  direction 
toward  great  national  ends  in  response  to  the 
will  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  was  rendered  ex- 
tremely difficult,  and  in  certain  crises  impossible. 
The  work  of  reform  carried  out  by  the  Constit- 
uent Assembly  was  on  an  enormous  scale,  im- 
mensely more  extensive  than  that  of  our  Federal 
Convention.  We  search  history  in  vain  for  any 
companion  piece.  It  is  unique.  Its  destructive 


142  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

work  proved  durable  and  most  important.  Much 
of  its  constructive  work,  however,  proved  very 
fragile.  Mirabeau  expressed  his  opinion  in  say- 
ing that  "The  disorganization  of  the  kingdom 
could  not  be  better  worked  out." 

There  were  other  dangerous  features  of  the 
situation  which  inspired  alarm  and  seemed  to 
keep  open  and  to  embitter  the  relations  of  vari- 
ous classes  and  to  foster  opportunities  for  the 
discontented  and  the  ambitious.  The  legislation 
concerning  the  church  proved  highly  divisive  in 
its  effects.  It  began  with  the  confiscation  of  its 
property;  it  was  continued  in  the  attempt  pro- 
foundly to  alter  its  organization. 

The  States-General  had  been  summoned  to 
provide  for  the  finances  of  the  country.  As  the 
problem  grew  daily  more  pressing,  as  various  at- 
tempts to  meet  it  proved  futile,  as  bankruptcy 
was  imminent,  the  Assembly  finally  decided  to 
sell  for  the  state  the  vast  properties  of  the  church. 
The  argument  was  that  the  church  was  not  the 
owner  but  was  merely  the  administrator,  enjoy- 
ing only  the  use  of  the  vast  wealth  which  had 
been  bestowed  upon  it  by  the  faithful,  but  be- 
stowed for  public,  national  purposes,  namely,  the 
maintenance  of  houses  of  worship,  schools,  hos- 
pitals ;  and  that  if  the  state  would  otherwise  pro- 
vide for  the  carrying  out  of  the  intentions  of  these 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    143 

numerous  benefactors,  it  might  apply  the  prop- 
erty, which  was  the  property  of  the  nation,  not  of 
the  church  as  a  corporation,  to  whatever  uses  it 
might  see  fit.  Acting  on  this  theory  a  decree  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  declaring  these  lands 
national.  They  constituted  perhaps  a  fourth  or 
a  fifth  of  the  territory  of  France  and  represented 
immense  wealth,  amply  sufficient,  it  was  be- 
lieved, to  set  the  public  finances  right. 

But  such  property  could  only  be  used  if 
converted  into  money  and  that  would  be  a 
slow  process,  running  through  years.  The 
expedient  was  devised  of  issuing  paper  money, 
as  the  government  needed  it,  against  this 
property  as  security.  This  paper  money  bore 
the  name  of  assignats.  Persons  receiving  such 
assignats  could  not  demand  gold  for  them,  as  in 
the  case  of  our  paper  money,  but  could  use  them 
in  buying  these  lands.  There  was  value  there- 
fore behind  these  paper  emissions.  The  dan- 
ger in  the  use  of  paper  money,  however,  always 
is  the  inclination,  so  easy  to  yield  to,  to  issue  far 
more  paper  than  the  value  of  the  property  behind 
it.  This  proved  a  temptation  that  the  revolu- 
tionary assemblies  did  not  have  strength  of  mind 
or  will  to  resist.  At  first  the  assignats  were  issued 
in  limited  quantities  as  the  state  needed  the 
money,  and  the  public  willingly  accepted  them, 


144 

But  later  larger  and  larger  emissions  were  made, 
far  out  of  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  national 
domains.  This  meant  the  rapid  depreciation  of 
the  paper.  People  would  not  accept  it  at  its  face 
value,  as  they  had  at  first  been  willing  to  do.  The 
value  of  the  church  property  was  estimated  in 
1789  as  4,<X)O,ooo,ooo  francs.  Between  1789  and 
1796  over  45,000,000,000  of  assignats  were  issued. 
In  1789  an  assignat  of  100  francs  was  accepted 
for  100  francs  in  coin.  But  by  1791  it  had 
sunk  from  par  to  82,  and  by  1796  to  less  than  a 
franc.  This  was  neither  an  honest  nor  an  effec- 
tive solution  of  the  perplexing  financial  problem. 
It  was  evasion,  it  was  in  its  essence  repudiation. 
The  Constituent  Assembly  did  nothing  toward 
solving  the  problem  that  had  occasioned  its  meet- 
ing. It  left  the  national  finances  in  a  worse  welter 
than  it  had  found  them  in. 

Another  piece  of  legislation  concerning  the 
church,  much  more  serious  in  its  effects  upon  the 
cause  of  reform,  was  the  Civil  Constitution  of 
the  Clergy.  By  act  of  the  Assembly  the  number 
of  dioceses  was  reduced  from  134  to  83,  one  for 
each  department.  The  bishops  and  priests  were 
henceforth  to  be  elected  by  the  same  persons 
who  elected  the  departmental  officials.  Once 
elected,  the  bishops  were  to  announce  the  fact 
to  the  Pope,  who  was  not  to  have  the  right  to  ap- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    145 

prove  or  disapprove  but  merely  to  confirm.  He 
was  then  to  recognize  them.  If  he  refused,  the 
ordinary  courts  could  be  invoked.  The  clergy 
were  to  receive  salaries  from  the  state,  were,  in 
other  words,  to  become  state  officials.  The  in- 
come of  most  of  the  bishops  would  be  greatly 
reduced,  that  of  the  parish  priests  considerably 
increased. 

This  law  was  not  acceptable  to  sincere  Catho- 
lics as  it  altered  by  act  of  politicians  an  organiza- 
tion that  had  hitherto  been  controlled  absolutely 
from  within.  Bishops  and  priests  were  to  be 
elected  like  other  officials — that  is,  Protestants, 
Jews,  free-thinkers  might  participate  in  choos- 
ing the  religious  functionaries  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Judges,  who  might  be  infidels,  might 
yet  play  a  decisive  part.  The  Pope  was  prac- 
tically ignored.  His  nominal  headship  was  not 
questioned.  His  real  power  was  largely  de- 
stroyed. He  would  be  informed  of  what  was 
happening;  his  approval  would  not  be  necessary. 

The  Assembly  voted  that  all  clergymen  must 
take  an  oath  to  support  this  Civil  Constitution 
of  the  Clergy.  Only  four  of  the  134  bishops  con- 
sented to  do  so.  Perhaps  a  third  of  the  parish 
priests  consented.  Those  who  consented  were 
called  the  juring,  those  who  refused,  the  non- 
juring  or  refractory  clergy.  In  due  time  elections 


i46  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

were  held  as  provided  by  the  law  and  those 
elected  were  called  the  constitutional  clergy. 
France  witnessed  the  spectacle  of  two  bodies  of 
priests,  one  non-juring,  chosen  in  the  old  way, 
the  other  elected  by  the  voters  indirectly.  The 
scandal  was  great  and  the  danger  appalling,  for 
religious  discord  was  introduced  into  every  city 
and  hamlet.  Faith  supported  the  one  body,  the 
state  supported  the  other — and  the  state  em- 
barked upon  a  long,  gloomy,  and  unsuccessful 
struggle  to  impose  its  will  in  a  sphere  where  it 
did  not  belong. 

Most  fatal  were  the  consequences.  One  was 
that  it  made  the  position  of  Louis  XVI,  a  sin- 
cere Catholic,  far  more  difficult  and  exposed 
him  to  the  charge  of  being  an  enemy  of  the 
Revolution,  if  he  hesitated  in  his  support  of  meas- 
ures which  he  could  not  and  did  not  approve. 
Another  was  that  it  provoked  in  various  sections, 
notably  in  Vendee,  the  most  passionate  civil  war 
France  had  ever  known.  Multitudes  of  the  lower 
clergy,  who  had  favored  and  greatly  helped  the 
Revolution  so  far,  now  turned  against  it  for  con- 
science' sake.  We  cannot  trace  in  detail  this 
lamentable  chapter  of  history.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  Constituent  Assembly  made  no  greater 
or  more  pernicious  mistake.  The  church  had,  as 
,  the  issue  proved,  immense  spiritual  influence  over 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    147 

the  peasants,  the  vast  bulk  of  the  population. 
Henceforth  there  was  a  divided  allegiance — alle- 
giance to  the  state,  allegiance  to  the  church.  Men 
had  to  make  an  agonizing  choice.  The  small 
counter-revolutionary  party  of  the  nobles,  hith- 
erto a  staff  of  officers  without  an  army,  was  now 
reinforced  by  thousands  and  millions  of  recruits, 
prepared  to  face  any  sacrifices.  And  worldly 
intriguers  could  draw  on  this  fund  of  piety  for  pur- 
poses that  were  anything  but  pious.  The  heat 
generated  by  politics  is  sufficient.  There  was 
no  need  of  increasing  the  temperature  by  adding 
the  heat  of  religious  controversy.  French  Revo- 
lution or  eternal  damnation,  such  was  the  hard 
choice  placed  before  the  devout. 

"I  would  rather  be  King  of  Metz,than  remain 
King  of  France  in  such  a  position,"  said  Louis 
XVI,  as  he  signed  the  decree  requiring  an  oath 
to  the  Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy,  "but  this 
will  end  soon."  The  meaning  of  which  remark 
was  that  the  King  was  now  through  with  his 
scruples,  that  he  was  resolved  to  call  the  mon- 
archs  of  Europe  to  his  aid,  that  he  was  deter- 
mined to  escape  from  this  coil  of  untoward  events 
that  was  binding  him  tighter  and  tighter,  threat- 
ening soon  to  strangle  him  completely.  The 
idea  of  a  royal  flight  was  not  new.  Marie  An- 
toinette had  thought  of  it  long  before.  Mira- 


i48  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

beau  had  counseled  it  under  certain  conditions 
which,  however,  were  no  longer  possible.  The 
nobles  who  had  fled  from  France,  some  of  them 
after  the  fall  of  the  Bastille,  more  of  them  after 
the  war  upon  the  chateaux,  hung  upon  the 
fringes  of  the  kingdom,  in  Belgium,  in  Piedmont, 
and  particularly  in  the  petty  German  states  that 
lined  the  fabled  banks  of  the  Rhine,  eager  to  have 
the  King  come  to  them,  eager  to  embroil  Europe 
with  France,  that  thus  they  might  return  to  Paris 
with  the  armies  that  would  surely  be  easily  vic- 
torious, and  set  back  the  clock  to  where  it  stood 
in  1789,  incidentally  celebrating  that  happy  oc- 
currence by  miscellaneous  punishment  of  all  the 
notable  revolutionists,  so  that  henceforth  imag- 
inative spirits  would  hesitate  before  again  laying 
impious  hands  upon  the  Lord's  anointed,  upon 
kings  by  divine  right,  upon  nobles  reposing  upon 
rights  no  less  sacred,  upon  the  holy  clergy.  The 
Count  of  Artois,  the  proud  and  empty-headed 
brother  of  the  King,  one  of  the  first  to  emigrate, 
had  said:  "  We  shall  return  within  three  months." 
As  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  to  return  only  after 
twenty-three  years,  a  considerable  miscalcula- 
tion, pardonable  no  doubt  in  that  extraordinary 
age  in  which  every  one  miscalculated. 

Louis  XVI,  wounded  in  his  conscience,  now 
planned  to  escape  from  Paris,  to  go  to  the  eastern 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    149 

part  of  France,  where  there  were  French  troops 
on  which  he  thought  he  could  rely.  Then,  sur- 
rounded by  faithful  adherents,  he  could  reassume 
the  kingly  role  and  come  back  to  Paris,  master 
of  the  situation. 

Disguised  as  a  valet  the  King,  accompanied  by 
the  Queen,  disguised  as  a  Russian  lady,  escaped 
from  the  Tuileries  in  the  night  of  June  20,  1791, 
in  a  clumsy  coach.  All  the  next  day  they  rolled 
over  the  white  highways  of  Champagne  under  a 
terrible  sun,  reaching  at  about  midnight  the  little 
village  of  Varennes,  not  far  from  the  frontier. 
There  they  were  recognized  and  arrested.  The 
National  Assembly  sent  three  commissioners  to 
bring  them  back.  The  return  was  for  these  two 
descendants  of  long  lines  of  kings  a  veritable 
ascent  of  Calvary.  Outrages,  insults,  jokes,  ig- 
nominies of  every  kind  were  hurled  at  them  by 
the  crowds  that  thronged  about  them  in  the  vil- 
lages through  which  they  passed — a  journey  with- 
out rest,  uninterrupted,  under  the  annihilating 
heat,  the  suffocating  dust  of  June.  Reaching  Paris 
they  were  no  longer  overwhelmed  with  insults, 
but  were  received  in  glacial  silence  by  enormous 
throngs  who  stood  with  hats  on,  as  the  royal 
coach  passed  by.  The  King  was  impassive,  but 
"  our  poor  Queen,"  so  wrote  a  friend,  "  bowed  her 
head  almost  to  her  knees."  Rows  of  national 


150  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

guards  stood,  arms  grounded,  as  at  funerals.  At 
seven  o'clock  that  night  they  were  in  the  Tui- 
leries  once  more.  Marie  Antoinette  had  in  these 
few  days  of  horror  grown  twenty  years  older. 
Her  hair  had  turned  quite  white,  "like  the  hair 
of  a  woman  of  seventy." 

The  consequences  of  this  woeful  misadventure 
were  extremely  grave.  Louis  XVI  had  shown 
his  real  feelings.  The  fidelity  of  his  people  to 
him  was  not  entirely  destroyed  but  was  irremedi- 
ably shaken.  They  no  longer  believed  in  the 
sincerity  of  his  utterances,  his  oaths  to  support 
the  constitution.  The  Queen  was  visited  with 
contumely,  being  regarded  as  the  arch-conspira- 
tor. The  throne  was  undermined.  A  republican 
party  appeared.  Before  this  no  one  had  consid- 
ered a  republic  possible  in  so  large  a  country  as 
France.  Republics  were  for  small  states  like 
those  of  ancient  Greece  or  medieval  Italy.  Even 
the  most  violent  revolutionists,  Robespierre, 
Danton,  Marat,  were,  up  to  this  time,  monarch- 
ists. Now,  however,  France  had  a  little  object- 
lesson.  During  the  absence  of  the  King,  the 
government  of  the  Assembly  continued  to  work 
normally.  In  the  period  following,  during  which 
Louis  XVI  was  suspended  from  the  exercise  of 
his  powers,  government  went  on  without  damage 
to  the  state.  A  king  was  evidently  not  indispen- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION    151 

sable.  It  has  been  correctly  stated  that  the  flight 
to  Varennes  created  the  republican  party  in 
France,  a  party  that  has  had  an  eventful  history 
since  then,  and  has  finally,  after  many  vicissi- 
tudes, established  its  regime. 

But  this  republican  party  was  very  small.  The 
very  idea  of  a  republic  frightened  the  Constitu- 
ent Assembly,  even  after  the  revelation  of  the 
faithlessness  of  the  King.  Consequently,  in  a 
revulsion  of  feeling,  the  Assembly,  after  a  little, 
restored  Louis  XVI  to  his  position,  finished  the 
constitution,  accepted  his  oath  to  support  it,  and 
on  September  30,  1791,  this  memorable  body  de- 
clared its  mission  fulfilled  and  its  career  at  an 
end. 

The  National  Assembly  before  adjournment 
committed  a  final  and  unnecessary  mistake.  In 
a  mood  of  fatal  disinterestedness  it  voted  that 
none  of  its  members  should  be  eligible  to  the  next 
legislature  or  to  the  ministry.  Thus  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past  two  years  was  thrown  away  and 
the  new  constitution  was  intrusted  to  hands  en- 
tirely different  from  those  that  had  fashioned  it. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY 

THE  constitution  was  now  to  be  put  into  force. 
France  was  to  make  the  experiment  of  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy  in  place  of  the  old  abso- 
lute monarchy,  gone  forever.  In  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  document  a  legis- 
lature was  now  chosen.  Its  first  session  was 
held  October  I,  1791.  Elected  for  a  two-year 
term,  it  served  for  less  than  a  single  year.  Ex- 
pected to  inaugurate  an  era  of  prosperity  and 
happiness  by  applying  the  new  principles  of  gov- 
ernment in  a  time  of  peace,  to  consolidate  the 
monarchy  on  its  new  basis,  it  was  destined  to  a 
stormy  life  and  to  witness  the  fall  of  the  mon- 
archy in  irreparable  ruin.  A  few  days  before  it 
met  Paris,  adept,  as  always,  in  the  art  of  observ- 
ing fittingly  great  national  occasions,  had  cele- 
brated "the  end  of  the  Revolution."  The  old 
regime  was  buried.  The  new  one  was  now  to  be 
installed. 

But  the  Revolution  had  not  ended.  Instead, 
it  shortly  entered  upon  a  far  more  criti- 
cal stage.  The  reasons  for  this  unhappy  turn 

152 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  153 

were  grave  and  numerous.  They  were  inherent 
in  the  situation,  both  in  France  and  in  Europe. 
Would  the  King  frankly  accept  his  new  position, 
with  no  mental  reservations,  with  no  secret  de- 
terminations, honestly,  entirely?  If  so,  and  if  he 
would  by  his  conduct  convince  his  people  of  his 
loyalty  to  his  word,  of  his  intention  to  rule  as  a 
constitutional  monarch,  to  abide  by  the  reforms 
thus  far  accomplished,  with  no  thought  of  up- 
setting the  new  system,  then  there  was  an  ex- 
cellent chance  that  the  future  would  be  one  of 
peaceful  development,  for  France  was  thoroughly 
monarchical  in  tradition,  in  feeling,  and  in  con- 
viction. The  Legislative  Assembly  was  as  mon- 
archical in  its  sentiments  as  the  Constituent 
had  been.  But  if  the  King's  conduct  should 
arouse  the  suspicion  that  he  was  intriguing  to 
restore  the  Old  Regime,  that  his  oaths  were  in- 
sincere, then  the  people  would  turn  against  him 
and  the  experiment  of  a  constitutional  monarchy 
would  be  hazarded.  France  had  no  desire  to  be 
a  republic,  but  it  had  also  a  fixed  and  resolute 
aversion  to  the  Old  Regime. 

Inevitably,  since  the  flight  to  Varennes,  sus- 
picion of  Louis  XVI  was  widespread.  The  sus- 
picion was  not  dissipated  by  wise  conduct  on  his 
part,  but  was  increased  in  the  following  months 
to  such  a  pitch  that  the  revolutionary  fever  had 


154  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

no  chance  to  subside  but  necessarily  mounted 
steadily.  The  King's  views  were  inevitably  col- 
ored by  his  hereditary  pretensions.  Moreover, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  religious  question  had  been 
injected  into  the  Revolution  in  so  acute  a  form 
that  his  conscience  as  a  Catholic  was  outraged. 
It  was  this  that  strained  to  the  breaking  point 
the  relations  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  and 
Louis  XVI.  The  Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy 
gave  rise  to  a  bitter  and  distressing  civil  war.  In 
the  great  province  of  Vendee  several  thousand 
peasants,  led  by  the  refractory  or  non-juring 
priests,  rose  against  the  elected,  constitutional 
priests  and  drove  them  out  of  the  pulpits  and 
churches.  When  national  guards  were  sent 
among  them  to  enforce  the  law  they  flew  to  arms 
against  them  and  civil  war  began. 

The  Assembly  forthwith  passed  a  decree 
against  the  refractory  priests,  which  only 
made  a  bad  matter  worse.  They  were  re- 
quired to  take  the  oath  to  the  Civil  Constitution 
within  a  week.  If  they  refused  they  would  be 
considered  "  suspicious  "  characters,  their  pen- 
sions would  be  suppressed,  and  they  would  be 
subject  to  the  watchful  and  hostile  surveillance 
of  the  government.  Louis  XVI  vetoed  this  de- 
cree, legitimately  using  the  power  given  him  by 
the  constitution.  This  veto,  accompanied  by 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  155 

others,  offended  public  opinion,  and  weakened 
the  King's  hold  upon  France.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  Louis  had  he  never  been  given 
the  veto  power,  since  every  exercise  of  it  placed 
him  in  opposition  to  the  Assembly  and  inflamed 
party  passions. 

The  other  decrees  which  he  vetoed  concerned 
the  royal  princes  and  the  nobles  who  had  emi- 
grated from  France,  either  because  they  no  longer 
felt  safe  there,  or  because  they  thought  that 
by  going  to  foreign  countries  they  might  induce 
their  rulers  to  intervene  in  French  affairs  and  re- 
store the  Old  Regime.  This  was  wanton  playing 
with  fire.  For  the  effect  on  France  might  be  the 
very  opposite  of  that  intended.  It  might  so 
heighten  and  exasperate  popular  feeling  that  the 
monarchy  would  be  in  greater  danger  than  if 
left  alone.  This  emigration,  mostly  of  the  privi- 
leged classes,  had  begun  on  the  morrow  of  the 
storming  of  the  Bastille.  The  Count  d'Artois, 
younger  brother  of  Louis  XVI,  had  left  France 
on  July  15,  1789.  The  emigration  became  impor- 
tant in  1790,  after  the  decree  abolishing  all  titles 
of  nobility,  a  decree  that  deeply  wounded  the 
pride  of  the  nobles,  and  it  was  accelerated  in 
1791,  after  the  flight  to  Varennes  and  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  King.  It  was  later  augmented  by 
great  numbers  of  non-juring  priests  and  of  bour- 


156  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

geois,   who   put   their   fidelity   to   the    Catholic 
Church  above  their  patriotism. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  during  the  Revo- 
lution a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people 
left  France  in  this  way.  Many  of  them  went 
to  the  little  German  states  on  the  eastern 
frontier.  There  they  formed  an  army  of  per- 
haps 20,000  men.  The  Count  of  Provence,  elder 
brother  of  Louis  XVI,  was  the  titular  leader 
and  claimed  that  he  was  the  regent  of  France 
on  the  ground  that  Louis  XVI  was  virtually  a 
prisoner.  The  emigres  ceaselessly  intrigued  in  the 
German  and  European  courts,  trying  to  insti- 
gate their  rulers  to  invade  France,  particularly 
the  rulers  of  Austria  and  Prussia,  important  mili- 
tary states,  urging  that  the  fate  of  one  monarch 
was  a  matter  that  concerned  all  monarchs,  for 
sentimental  reasons  and  for  practical,  since,  if  the 
impious  revolution  triumphed  in  France,  there 
would  come  the  turn  of  the  other  kings  for  sim- 
ilar treatment  at  the  hands  of  rebellious  subjects. 
In  1791  the  emigres  succeeded  in  inducing  the  rul- 
ers of  Austria  and  Prussia  to  issue  the  Declara- 
tion of  Pillnitz  announcing  that  the  cause  of 
Louis  XVI  was  the  cause  of  all  the  monarchs 
of  Europe.  This  declaration  was  made  condi- 
tional upon  the  cooperation  of  all  the  countries 
and,  therefore,  it  was  largely  bluster  and  had  no 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  157 

direct  importance.  It  was  not  sufficient  to  bring 
on  war.  But  it  angered  France  and  increased 
suspicion  of  the  King.  The  Legislative  Assem- 
bly passed  two  decrees,  one  declaring  that  the 
Count  of  Provence  would  be  deprived  of  his 
eventual  rights  to  the  throne  if  he  did  not  return 
to  France  within  two  months,  the  other  declaring 
that  the  property  of  the  emigres  would  be  con- 
fiscated and  that  they  themselves  would  be 
treated  as  enemies,  as  guilty  of  treasonable  con- 
spiracy, if  their  armaments  were  not  dispersed 
by  January  I,  1792;  also  stating  that  the  French 
princes  and  public  officials  who  had  emigrated 
should  be  likewise  regarded  as  conspiring  against 
the  state  and  would  be  exposed  to  the  penalty 
of  death,  if  they  did  not  return  by  the  same  date. 
Louis  XVI  vetoed  these  decrees.  He  did,  how- 
ever, order  his  two  brothers  to  return  to  France. 
They  refused  to  obey  out  of  "  tenderness  "  for  the 
King.  The  Count  of  Provence,  who  had  a  gift 
for  misplaced  irony  and  impertinence,  saw  fit  to 
exercise  it  in  his  reply  to  the  Assembly's  sum- 
mons. If  this  was  not  precisely  pouring  oil  upon 
troubled  waters,  it  was  precisely  adding  fuel  to 
a  mounting  conflagration,  perhaps  a  natural 
mode  of  action  for  those  who  are  dancing  on  vol- 
canoes. Prudent  people  prefer  to  do  their  danc- 
ing elsewhere. 


158  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

More  serious  were  the  war  clouds  that  were 
rapidly  gathering.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Rev- 
olution nothing  seemed  less  likely  than  a  con- 
flict between  France  and  Europe.  France  was 
pacifically  inclined,  and  there  were  no  outstand- 
ing subjects  of  dispute.  Moreover  the  rulers  of 
the  other  countries  were  not  at  all  anxious  to 
intervene.  They  were  quite  willing  to  have 
France  occupied  exclusively  with  domestic  prob- 
lems, as  thus  the  field  would  be  left  open  for  their 
intrigues.  They  were  meditating  the  final  par- 
tition of  Poland  and  wished  to  be  left  alone  while 
they  committed  that  crowning  iniquity.  But 
gradually  they  came  to  see  the  menace  to  them- 
selves in  the  new  principles  proclaimed  by  the 
French,  principles  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  and  of  the  equality  of  all  citizens.  Their 
own  subjects,  particularly  the  peasants  and  the 
middle  classes,  were  alarmingly  enthusiastic  over 
the  achievements  of  the  French.  If  such  prin- 
ciples should  inspire  the  same  deeds  as  in  France, 
the  absolute  monarchy  of  Louis  XVI  would  not 
be  the  only  one  to  suffer  a  shock. 

Just  as  the  sovereigns  were  being  somewhat 
aroused  from  this  complacent  indifference  in 
regard  to  their  neighbor's  principles,  a  change 
was  going  on  in  France  itself,  where  certain 
parties  were  beginning  to  proclaim  their  duty  to 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  159 

share  their  happiness  with  other  peoples,  in  other 
words,  to  conduct  a  propaganda  for  their  ideas 
outside  of  France.  They  were  talking  of  the 
necessity  of  warring  against  tyrants,  and  of  liber- 
ating peoples  still  enslaved. 

Thus  on  both  sides  the  temper  was  becoming 
warlike.  When  such  a  mood  prevails  it  is  never 
difficult  for  willing  minds  to  find  sufficient  pre- 
texts for  an  appeal  to  arms.  Moreover  each  side 
had  a  definite  and  positive  grievance.  France, 
as  we  have  seen,  viewed  with  displeasure  and  con- 
cern the  formation  of  the  royalist  armies  on  her 
eastern  borders,  with  the  connivance,  or  at  least 
the  consent,  of  the  German  princes.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  German  Empire  had  a  direct 
grievance  against  France.  When  Alsace  became 
French  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  number  of 
German  princes  possessed  lands  there  and  were, 
in  fact,  feudal  lords.  They  still  remained  princes 
of  the  German  Empire  and  their  territorial  rights 
were  guaranteed  by  the  treaties.  Only  they  were 
at  the  same  time  vassals  of  the  King  of  France, 
doing  homage  to  him  and  collecting  feudal  dues, 
as  previously.  When  the  French  abolished  feu- 
dal dues,  as  we  have  seen,  August  4,  1789,  they 
insisted  that  these  decrees  applied  to  Alsace  as 
well  as  to  the  rest  of  France.  The  German 
princes  protested  and  asserted  that  the  decrees 


160  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

were  in  violation  of  the  treaties  of  Westphalia. 
The  German  Diet  espoused  their  cause.  The 
Constituent  Assembly  insisted  upon  maintaining 
its  laws,  in  large  measure,  but  offered  to  modify 
them.  The  Diet  refused,  demanding  the  revo- 
cation of  the  obnoxious  laws  and  the  restoration 
of  the  feudal  dues  in  Alsace.  The  controversy 
was  full  of  danger  for  the  reason  that  there  were 
many  people,  both  in  France  and  in  the  other 
countries,  who  were  anxious  for  war  and  who 
would  use  any  means  they  could  to  bring  it  about. 
The  gale  was  gathering  that  was  to  sweep  over 
Europe  in  memorable  devastation  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 

The  Legislative  Assembly  was  composed  of  in- 
experienced men,  because  of  the  self-denying  or- 
dinance passed  in  the  closing  hours  of  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly.  Yet  this  Assembly  was  vested 
by  the  new  constitution  with  powers  vastly  over- 
shadowing those  left  with  the  King.  Yet  it  was 
suspicious  of  the  latter,  as  it  had  no  control  over 
the  ministry  and  as  it  was  the  executive  that 
directed  the  relations  with  foreign  countries. 

There  were,  moreover,  certain  new  forces  in 
domestic  politics  of  which  the  world  was  to  hear 
much  in  the  coming  months.  Certain  political 
clubs  began  to  loom  up  threateningly  as  possible 
rivals  even  of  the  Assembly.  The  two  most  con- 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  161 

spicuous  were  the  Jacobin  and  the  Cordelier 
clubs.  These  had  originated  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  Revolution,  but  it  was  under  the 
Legislative  Assembly  and  its  successor  that  they 
showed  their  power. 

The  Jacobin  Club  was  destined  to  the  greater 
notoriety.  It  was  composed  of  members  of  the 
Assembly  and  of  outsiders,  citizens  of  Paris. 
As  a  political  club  the  members  held  constant 
sessions  and  debated  with  great  zeal  and  freedom 
the  questions  that  were  before  the  Assembly.  Its 
most  influential  leader  at  this  time  was  Robes- 
pierre, a  radical  democrat  but  at  the  same  time  a 
convinced  monarchist,  a  vigorous  opponent  of  the 
small  republican  party  which  had  appeared  mo- 
mentarily at  the  time  of  the  epoch-making  flight 
to  Varennes.  The  Jacobin  Club  grew  steadily 
more  radical  as  the  Revolution  progressed  and 
as  its  more  conservative  members  dropped  out 
or  were  eliminated.  It  also  rapidly  extended  its 
influence  over  all  France.  Jacobin  clubs  were 
founded  in  over  2,000  cities  and  villages. 
Affiliated  with  the  mother  club  in  Paris,  they 
formed  a  vast  network,  virtually  receiving  orders 
from  Paris,  developing  great  talent  for  concerted 
action.  The  discipline  that  held  this  volun- 
tary organization  together  was  remarkable  and 
rendered  it  capable  of  great  and  decisive  action. 


162  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

It  became  a  sort  of  state  within  the  state,  and 
moreover,  within  a  state  which  was  as  decentral- 
ized and  ineffective  as  it  was  itself  highly  cen- 
tralized and  rapid  and  thorough  in  its  action. 
The  Jacobin  Club  gradually  became  a  rival  of 
the  Assembly  itself  and  at  times  exerted  a  pre- 
ponderant influence  upon  it,  yet  the  Assembly 
was  the  legally  constituted  government  of  all 
France. 

The  Cordelier  Club  was  still  more  radical.  Its 
membership  was  derived  from  a  lower  social 
scale.  It  was  more  democratic.  Moreover,  since 
the  flight  to  Varennes  it  was  the  hotbed  of  repub- 
licanism. Its  chief  influence  was  with  the  work- 
ing classes  of  Paris,  men  who  were  enthusiastic 
supporters  of  the  Revolution,  anxious  to  have  it 
carried  further,  easily  inflamed  against  any  one 
who  was  accused  as  an  enemy,  open  or  secret,  of 
the  Revolution.  These  men  were  crude  and  rude 
but  tremendously  energetic.  They  were  the  stuff 
of  which  mobs  could  be  made,  and  they  had  in 
Danton,  a  lawyer,  with  a  power  of  downright  and 
epigrammatic  speech,  an  able,  astute,  and  ruth- 
less leader.  The  Cordelier  Club,  unlike  the  Jaco- 
bin, was  limited  to  Paris;  it  had  no  branches 
throughout  the  departments.  Like  the  Jacobins 
the  Cordeliers  contracted  the  habit  of  bringing 
physical  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  government, 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  163 

of  seeking  to  impose  their  will  upon  that  of  the 
representatives  of  the  nation,  the  King  and  the 
Assembly. 

Here,  then,  were  redoubtable  machines  for  in- 
fluencing the  public.  They  would  support  the 
Assembly  as  long  as  its  conduct  met  their  wishes, 
but  they  were  self-confident  and  self-willed 
enough  to  oppose  it  and  to  try  to  dominate  it  on 
occasion.  Both  were  enthusiastic  believers  in 
the  Revolution;  both  were  lynx-eyed  and  keen- 
scented  for  any  hostility  to  the  Revolution,  will- 
ing to  go  to  any  lengths  to  uncover  and  to  crush 
those  who  should  try  to  undo  the  reforms  thus 
far  accomplished.  Both  were  suspicious  of  the 
King. 

They  had  inflammable  material  enough  to 
work  upon  in  the  masses  of  the  great  capital  of 
France.  And  these  masses  were,  as  the  months 
went  by,  becoming  steadily  more  excitable  and 
exalted  in  temper.  They  worshiped  liberty 
frantically  and  they  expressed  their  worship  in 
picturesque  and  sinister  ways.  They  considered 
themselves,  called  themselves  the  true  "patriots," 
and,  like  all  fanatics,  they  were  highly  jealous  and 
suspicious  of  their  more  moderate  fellow-citizens. 
The  new  wine,  which  was  decidedly  heady,  was 
fermenting  dangerously  in  their  brains.  They 
displayed  the  revolutionary  colors,  the  tricolor 


164  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

cockade,  everywhere  and  on  all  occasions.  They 
adopted  and  wore  the  bonnet  rouge  or  red  cap, 
which  resembled  the  Phrygian  cap  of  antiquity, 
the  cap  worn  by  the  slaves  after  their  eman- 
cipation. This  was  now,  as  it  had  been  then,  the 
symbol  of  liberty. 

This  is  the  period,  too,  when  we  hear  of  the 
planting  of  liberty  poles  or  trees  everywhere 
amid  popular  acclamation  and  with  festivities 
calculated  to  intensify  the  new-born  democratic 
devotion.  Even  in  dress  the  new  era  had  its 
radical  innovations  and  symbolism.  The  sans- 
culottes now  set  the  style.  They  were  the  men 
who  abandoned  the  old-style  short  breeches,  the 
culottes,  and  adopted  the  long  trousers  hitherto 
worn  only  by  workingmen  and  therefore  a  badge 
of  social  inferiority. 

Such,  then,  was  the  new  quality  in  the  atmos- 
phere, such  were  the  new  players  who  were 
grouped  around  the  margins  of  the  scene.  Their 
influence  was  felt  all  through  its  year  of  fevered 
history  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  the  lawful 
government  of  France.  These  men  were  all 
aglow  with  the  great  news  announced  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  the  Rights  of  Man,  that  the  people 
are  sovereign  here  below  and  that  no  divinity 
doth  hedge  about  a  King — that  was  sheer  clap- 
trap which  had  imposed  on  mankind  quite  long 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  165 

enough.  Now  that  France  was  delivered  from 
this  sorry  hallucination,  now  that  the  darkness 
was  dispelled,  let  the  new  principles  be  fearlessly 
applied! 

The  reaction  of  all  this  upon  the  Legislative 
Assembly  was  pronounced.  One  of  the  first  ac- 
tions of  that  Assembly  was  to  abolish  the  terms, 
"Sire"  and  "Your  Majesty,"  used  in  addressing 
the  King.  Another  evidence  that  the  new  doc- 
trine of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  was  not 
merely  a  rosy,  yet  unsubstantial,  figment  of  the 
imagination,  but  was  a  definite  principle  intended 
to  be  applied  to  daily  politics,  was  the  fact  that 
when  dissatisfied  with  the  Assembly,  the  people 
crowded  into  its  hall  more  frequently,  express- 
ing their  disapproval,  voicing  in  unambiguous 
manner  their  desires,  and  the  Assembly,  which 
believed  in  the  doctrine  too,  did  not  dare  resent 
its  application,  did  not  dare  assert  its  inviolabil- 
ity, as  the  representative  of  France,  of  law  and 
order. 

The  signs  of  the  times,  then,  were  certainly 
not  propitious  for  those  who  would  undo  the 
work  of  the  Revolution,  who  would  restore  the 
King  and  the  nobles  to  the  position  they  had  once 
occupied  and  had  now  lost.  The  pack  would  be 
upon  them  if  they  tried.  The  struggle  would  be 
with  a  rude  and  vigorous  democracy  in  which 


i66  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

reverence  for  the  old  had  died,  which  was  reck- 
less of  traditions,  and  was  ready  to  suffer,  and 
more  ready  to  inflict  suffering,  if  attempts  were 
made  to  thwart  it.  Anything  that  looked  like 
treachery  would  mean  a  popular  explosion.  Yet 
this  moment,  so  inopportune,  was  being  used  by 
the  King  and  Queen  in  secret  but  suspected 
machinations  with  foreign  rulers,  with  a  view 
to  securing  their  aid  in  the  attempt  to  recover 
the  ground  lost  by  the  monarchy;  was  being  used 
by  the  emigrant  nobles  in  Coblenz  and  Worms 
for  counter-revolutionary  intrigues  and  for  war- 
like preparations.  Their  only  safe  policy  was  a 
candid  and  unmistakable  recognition  of  the  new 
regime,  but  this  was  precisely  what  they  were  in- 
tellectually and  temperamentally  incapable  of  ap- 
preciating. They  were  playing  with  fire.  This 
was  all  the  more  risky  as  many  of  their  enemies 
were  equally  willing  to  play  with  the  same  dan- 
gerous element. 

There  was  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  a  group 
of  men  called  the  Girondists,  because  many  of 
their  leaders,  Vergniaud,  Isnard,  Buzot  and 
others,  came  from  that  section  of  France  known 
as  Gironde,  in  the  region  of  Bordeaux.  The 
Girondists  have  enjoyed  a  poetic  immortality 
ever  since  imaginative  histories  of  the  Revolu- 
tion issued  from  the  pensive  pen  of  the  poet  La- 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  167 

martine,  who  portrayed  them  as  pure  and  high- 
minded  patriots  caught  in  the  swirl  of  a  wicked 
world.  The  description  was  inaccurate.  They 
were  not  disinterested  martyrs  in  the  cause  of 
good  government.  They  were  a  group  of  poli- 
ticians whose  discretion  was  not  as  conspicuous 
as  their  ambition.  They  paid  for  that  vaulting 
emotion  the  price  which  it  frequently  exacts. 
They  knew  how  to  make  their  tragic  exit  from 
life  bravely  and  heroically.  They  did  not  know, 
what  is  more  difficult,  how  to  make  their  lives 
wise  and  profitable  to  the  world.  They  were  a 
group  of  eloquent  young  men,  led  by  a  romantic 
young  woman.  For  the  real  head  of  this  group 
that  had  its  hour  upon  the  stage  and  then  was 
heard  no  more  in  the  deafening  clamor  of  the  later 
Revolution,  was  Madame  Roland,  their  bright 
particular  star.  Theirs  was  a  bookish  outlook 
upon  the  world.  They  fed  upon  Plutarch,  and 
boundless  was  their  admiration  for  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans.  They  were  republicans  be- 
cause those  glorious  figures  of  the  earlier  time 
had  been  republicans;  also  because  they  imag- 
ined that,  in  a  republic,  they  would  themselves 
find  a  better  chance  to  shine  and  to  irradiate  the 
world.  Dazzled  by  these  prototypes,  they  burned 
with  the  spirit  of  emulation.  The  reader  must 
keep  steadily  in  mind  that  the  Girondists  and  the 


i68  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Jacobins  were  entirely  distinct  groups.  They 
were,  indeed,  destined  later  to  be  deadly  rivals 
and  enemies. 

Such  were  the  personages  who  played  their 
dissimilar  parts  in  the  hot  drama  of  the  times. 
The  stage  was  set.  The  background  was  the 
whole  fabric  of  the  European  state  system,  now 
shaking  unawares.  The  action  began  with  the 
declaration  of  war  by  France  against  Francis  II, 
ruler  of  Austria,  and  nephew  of  Marie  An- 
toinette, a  declaration  which  opened  a  war  which 
was  to  be  European  and  world-wide,  which  was 
to  last  twenty-three  long  years,  was  to  deform 
and  twist  the  Revolution  out  of  all  resemblance 
to  its  early  promise,  was,  as  by-products,  to  give 
France  a  republic,  a  Reign  of  Terror,  a  Napole- 
onic epic,  a  Bourbon  overthrow  and  restoration, 
and  was  to  end  only  with  the  catastrophic  inci- 
dent of  Waterloo. 

That  war  was  precipitated  by  the  French,  who 
sent  an  ultimatum  to  the  Emperor  concerning 
the  emigres.  Francis  replied  by  demanding  the 
restoration  to  the  German  princes  in  Alsace  of 
their  feudal  rights  and,  in  addition,  the  repression 
in  France  "of  anything  that  might  alarm  other 
states."  War  was  declared  on  April  20,  1792. 
It  was  desired  by  all  the  parties  of  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly.  Only  seven  members  voted 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  169 

against  it.  The  supporters  of  the  King  wanted 
it,  believing  that  it  would  enable  him  to  recover 
power  once  more  by  rendering  him  popular  as  the 
leader  in  a  victorious  campaign  and  by  putting 
at  his  disposal  a  strong  military  force.  Giron- 
dists and  Jacobins  wanted  it  for  precisely  the  op- 
posite reason,  as  likely  to  prove  that  Louis  was 
secretly  a  traitor,  in  intimate  relations  with  the 
enemies  of  France.  This  once  established,  the 
monarchy  could  be  swept  aside  and  a  republic 
installed.  Only  Robespierre  and  a  few  others  op- 
posed it  on  the  ground  that  war  always  plays  into 
the  hands  of  the  rich  and  powerful,  that  the  peo- 
ple, on  the  other  hand,  the  poor,  always  pay  for 
it  and  lose  rather  than  gain,  that  war  is  never  in 
the  interest  of  a  democracy.  They  were,  how- 
ever, voices  crying  in  the  wilderness.  There 
was  a  widespread  feeling  that  the  war  was  an 
inevitable  clash  between  democracy,  represented 
by  France  under  the  new  dispensation,  and 
autocracy,  represented  by  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg,  a  conflict  of  two  eras,  the  past  and  the  fu- 
ture. The  national  exaltation  was  such  that  the 
people  welcomed  the  opportunity  to  spread 
abroad,  beyond  the  borders  of  France,  the  revo- 
lutionary ideas  of  liberty  and  equality  which  they 
had  so  recently  acquired  and  which  they  so  highly 
prized.  The  war  had  some  of  the  character- 


170  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

istics  of  a  religious  war,  the  same  mental  exalta- 
tion, the  same  dogmatic  belief  in  the  universal 
applicability  of  its  doctrines,  the  same  sense  of 
duty  to  preach  them  everywhere;  by  force,  if 
necessary. 

This  war  was  a  startling  and  momentous  turn- 
ing-point in  the  history  of  the  Revolution.  It 
had  consequences,  some  of  which  were  fore- 
seen, most  of  which  were  not.  It  reacted  pro- 
foundly upon  the  French  and  before  it  was  over 
it  compromised  their  own  domestic  liberty  and 
generated  a  military  despotism  of  greater  effi- 
ciency than  could  be  matched  in  the  century-old 
history  of  the  House  of  Bourbon. 

First  and  foremost  among  the  effects  of  the 
war  was  this :  it  swept  the  illustrious  French  mon- 
archy clean  away  and  put  the  monarchs  to  death. 
The  war  began  disastrously.  Instead  of  easily 
conquering  Belgium,  which  belonged  to  Francis 
II,  as  they  had  confidently  expected  to,  the  French 
suffered  severe  reverses.  One  reason  was  that 
their  army  had  been  badly  disorganized  by  the 
wholesale  resignation  or  emigration  of  its  offi- 
cers, all  noblemen.  Another  was  the  highly  trea- 
sonable act  of  Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette, 
who  informed  the  Austrians  of  the  French  plan 
of  campaign.  This  treason  of  their  sovereigns 
was  not  known  to  the  French,  but  it  was  sus- 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  171 

pected,  and  it  was  none  the  less  efficacious.  At 
the  same  time  that  French  armies  were  being 
driven  back,  civil  war,  growing  out  of  the  re- 
ligious dissensions,  was  threatening  in  France. 
The  Assembly,  facing  these  troubles,  indignantly 
passed  two  decrees,  one  ordering  the  deporta- 
tion to  penal  colonies  of  all  refractory  or  non- 
juring  priests,  the  other  providing  for  an  army 
of  20,000  men  for  the  protection  of  Paris. 

Louis  XVI  vetoed  both  measures.  Then 
the  storm  broke.  The  Jacobins  inspired  and  or- 
ganized a  great  popular  demonstration  against 
the  King,  the  object  being  to  force  him  to  sign 
the  decrees.  Out  from  the  crowded  working- 
men's  quarters  emerged,  on  June  20,  1792,  several 
thousand  men,  wearing  the  bonnet  rouge,  armed 
with  pikes,  and  carrying  standards  with  the 
Rights  of  Man  printed  on  them.  They  went  to 
the  hall  of  the  Assembly  and  were  permitted  to 
march  through  it,  submitting  a  petition  in  which 
the  pointed  statement  was  made  that  the  will 
of  25,000,000  people  could  not  be  balked  by  the 
will  of  one  man.  After  leaving  the  hall  the  crowd 
went  to  the  Tuileries,  forced  open  the  gates,  and 
penetrated  to  the  King's  own  apartments.  The 
King  for  three  hours  stood  before  them,  in  the 
recess  of  a  window,  protected  by  some  of  the 
deputies.  The  crowd  shouted,  "Sign  the  de- 


172  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

crees!"  "Down  with  the  priests!"  One  of  the 
ringleaders  of  the  demonstration,  a  butcher 
called  Legendre,  gained  a  notoriety  that  has  suf- 
ficed to  preserve  his  name  from  oblivion  to  this 
day,  by  shouting  at  the  King,  "Sir,  you  are  a 
traitor,  you  have  always  deceived  us,  you  are  de- 
ceiving us  still.  Beware,  the  cup  is  full."  Louis 
XVI  refused  to  make  any  promises.  His  will,  for 
once,  did  not  waver.  But  he  received  a  bonnet 
rouge  and  donned  it  and  drank  a  glass  of  wine 
presented  him  by  one  of  the  crowd.  The  crowd 
finally  withdrew,  having  committed  no  violence, 
but  having  subjected  the  King  of  France  to  bit- 
ter humiliation. 

Immediately  a  wave  of  indignation  at  this  af- 
front and  scandal  swept  over  France  and  it 
seemed  likely  that,  after  all,  it  might  redound  to 
the  advantage  of  Louis,  increasing  his  popular- 
ity by  the  sympathy  it  evoked.  But  shortly  other 
events  supervened  and  his  position  became  more 
precarious  than  ever.  Prussia  joined  Austria  in 
the  war  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  commander 
of  the  coalition  armies,  as  he  crossed  the  fron- 
tiers of  France,  issued  a  manifesto  which  aroused 
the  people  to  a  fever  pitch  of  wrath.  This  mani- 
festo had  really  been  written  by  an  emigre  and 
it  was  redolent  of  the  concentrated  rancor  of  his 
class.  The  manifesto  ordered  the  French  to  re- 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  173 

store  Louis  XVI  to  complete  liberty  of  action. 
It  went  further  and  virtually  commanded  them 
to  obey  the  orders  of  the  monarchs  of  Austria 
and  Prussia.  It  announced  that  any  national 
guards  who  should  resist  the  advance  of  the 
allies  would  be  punished  as  rebels  and  it  wound 
up  with  the  terrific  threat  that  if  the  least  vio- 
lence or  outrage  should  be  offered  to  their  Majes- 
ties, the  King,  the  Queen,  and  the  royal  family,  if 
their  preservation  and  their  liberty  should  not 
be  immediately  provided  for,  they,  the  allied 
monarchs,  would  "  exact  an  exemplary  and  ever- 
memorable  vengeance,"  namely,  the  complete 
destruction  of  the  city  of  Paris. 

Such  a  threat  could  have  but  one  reply  from  a 
self-respecting  people.  It  nerved  them  to  in- 
credible exertions  to  resent  and  repay  the  insult. 
Patriotic  anger  swept  everything  before  it. 

The  first  to  suffer  was  the  person  whom  the 
manifesto  had  singled  out  for  special  care,  Louis 
XVI,  now  suspected  more  than  ever  of  being  the 
accomplice  of  these  invaders  who  were  breath- 
ing fire  and  destruction  upon  the  French  for  the 
insolence  of  managing  their  own  affairs  as  they 
saw  fit.  On  August  10,  1792,  another,  and  this 
time  more  formidable,  insurrection  occurred  in 
Paris.  At  nine  in  the  morning  the  crowd  at- 
tacked the  Tuileries.  At  ten  the  King  and  the 


174  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

royal  family  left  the  palace  and  sought  safety  in 
the  Assembly.  There  they  were  kept  in  a  little 
room,  just  behind  the  president's  chair  and  there 
they  remained  for  more  than  thirty  hours.  While 
the  Assembly  was  debating,  a  furious  combat 
was  raging  between  the  troops  stationed  to  guard 
the  Tuileries  and  the  mob.  Louis  XVI,  hearing 
the  first  shots,  sent  word  to  the  guards  to  cease 
fire,  but  the  officer  who  carried  the  command  did 
not  deliver  it  as  long  as  he  thought  there  was  a 
chance  of  victory.  The  Swiss  Guards  were  the 
heroes  and  the  victims  of  that  dreadful  day. 
They  defended  the  palace  until  their  ammunition 
gave  out  and  then,  receiving  the  order  to  retire, 
they  fell  back  slowly,  but  were  soon  overwhelmed 
by  their  assailants  and  800  of  them  were  shot 
down.  The  vengeance  of  the  mob  was  frenzied. 
They  themselves  had  lost  hundreds  of  men.  No 
quarter  was  given.  More  than  5,000  people 
were  killed  that  day.  The  Tuileries  was  sacked 
and  gutted.  A  sallow-complexioned  young  ar- 
tillery officer,  out  of  service,  named  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  was  a  spectator  of  this  scene,  from 
which  he  learned  a  few  lessons  which  were  later 
of  value  to  him. 

The  deeds  of  August  10  were  the  work  of  the 
Revolutionary  Commune  of  Paris.  The  former 
municipal  government  had  been  illegally  over- 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  175 

thrown  by  the  Jacobins,  who  had  then  organized 
a  new  government  which  they  entirely  controlled. 
The  Jacobins,  the  masters  of  Paris,  had  carefully 
prepared  the  insurrection  of  August  10  for  the 
definite  purpose  of  overthrowing  Louis  XVI. 
The  menaces  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  had 
merely  been  the  pretext.  Now  began  that  sys- 
tematic dominance  of  Paris  in  the  affairs 
of  France  which  was  to  be  brief  but 
terrible.  At  the  end  of  the  insurrection 
the  Commune  forced  the  Legislative  Assembly 
to  do  its  wishes.  Under  this  imperious  and  en- 
tirely illegal  dictation  the  Assembly  voted  that 
the  King  should  be  provisionally  suspended.  This 
necessitated  the  making  of  a  new  constitution, 
as  the  Constitution  of  1791  was  monarchical.  The 
present  Assembly  was  a  merely  legislative  body, 
not  competent  to  alter  the  fundamental  law. 
Therefore  the  Legislative  Assembly,  although 
its  term  was  only  half  expired,  decided  to  call 
a  Convention  to  take  up  the  matter  of  the  con- 
stitution. Under  orders  from  the  Paris  Com- 
mune it  issued  a  decree  to  that  effect  and  it 
made  a  further  important  decision.  For  elec- 
tions to  the  Convention  it  abolished  the  prop- 
erty suffrage,  established  by  the  Constitution  of 
1791,  and  proclaimed  universal  suffrage.  France, 
thus,  on  August  10,  1792,  became  a  democracy. 


176  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

The  executive  of  France  was  thus  overthrown. 
During  the  interval  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention  a  provisional  executive  council,  with 
Danton  at  the  head,  wielded  the  executive  power, 
influenced  by  the  Commune.  The  Assembly  had 
merely  voted  the  suspension  of  Louis  XVI.  The 
Commune,  in  complete  disregard  of  law  and  in 
defiance  of  the  Assembly,  imprisoned  the  King 
and  Queen  in  the  Temple,  an  old  fortress  in 
Paris.  The  Commune  also  arrested  large  num- 
bers of  suspected  persons. 

This  Revolutionary  Commune,  or  City  Coun- 
cil of  Paris,  was  henceforth  one  of  the  power- 
ful factors  in  the  government  of  France.  It, 
and  not  the  Legislative  Assembly,  was  the  real 
ruler  of  the  country  between  the  suspension  of 
the  King  on  August  10  and  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention,  September  20.  It  continued  to  be 
a  factor,  sometimes  predominant,  even  under 
the  Convention.  For  nearly  two  years,  from 
August,  1792,  until  the  overthrow  of  Robes- 
pierre on  July  27,  1794,  the  Commune  was  one 
of  the  principal  forces  in  politics.  It  signal- 
ized its  advent  by  suppressing  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  one  of  the  precious  conquests  of  the 
reform  movement,  by  defying  the  committees 
of  the  Assembly  when  it  chose,  and  by  carrying 
through  the  infamous  September  Massacres, 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  177 

which  left  a  monstrous  and  indelible  stain  upon 
the  Revolution.  The  Commune  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  lower  classes  and  of  the  Jacobins. 
Its  leaders  were  all  extremely  radical,  and  some 
were  desperate  characters  who  would  stop  at 
nothing  to  gain  their  ends. 

The  September  Massacres  grew  out  of  the  feel- 
ing of  panic  which  seized  the  population  of  Paris 
as  it  heard  of  the  steady  approach  of  the  Prus- 
sians and  Austrians  under  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick. Hundreds  of  persons,  suspected  or 
charged  with  being  real  accomplices  of  the  in- 
vaders, were  thrown  into  prison.  Finally  the 
news  reached  Paris  that  Verdun  was  besieged, 
the  last  fortress  on  the  road  to  the  capital.  If 
that  should  fall,  then  the  enemy  would  have  but 
a  few  days'  march  to  accomplish  and  Paris  would 
be  theirs.  The  Commune  and  the  Assembly 
made  heroic  exertions  to  raise  and  forward 
troops  to  the  exposed  position.  The  Commune 
sounded  the  tocsin  or  general  alarm  from  the  bell 
towers,  and  unfurled  a  gigantic  black  flag  from 
the  City  Hall  bearing  the  inscription,  "  The 
Country  is  in  Danger."  The  more  violent  mem- 
bers began  to  say  that  before  the  troops  were 
sent  to  the  front  the  traitors  within  the  city 
ought  to  be  put  out  of  the  way.  "  Shall  we  go 
to  the  front,  leaving  3,000  prisoners  behind  us, 


178  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

who  may  escape  and  murder  our  wives  and  chil- 
dren? "  they  asked.  The  hideous  spokesman  and 
inciter  of  the  foul  and  cowardly  slaughter  was 
Marat,  one  of  the  most  bloodthirsty  characters 
of  the  time.  The  result  was  that  day  after  day 
from  September  2  to  September  6  the  cold-blooded 
murder  of  non-juring  priests,  of  persons  sus- 
pected or  accused  of  "  aristocracy,"  went  on, 
without  trial,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty,  men 
and  women.  The  butchery  was  systematically 
done  by  men  hired  and  paid  by  certain  members 
of  the  Commune.  The  Legislative  Assembly  was 
too  terrified  itself  to  attempt  to  stop  the  infamous 
business,  nor  could  it  have  done  so  had  it  tried. 
Nearly  1,200  persons  were  thus  savagely 
hacked  to  pieces  by  the  colossal  barbarism  of 
those  days. 

One  consequence  of  these  massacres  was  to  dis- 
credit the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  Another  was 
to  precipitate  a  sanguinary  struggle  between  the 
Girondists,  who  wished  to  punish  the  "  Septem- 
brists  "  and  particularly  their  instigator,  Marat, 
and  the  Jacobins,  who  either  defended  them  or 
assumed  an  attitude  of  indifference,  urging  that 
France  had  more  important  work  to  do  than  to 
spend  its  time  trying  to  avenge  men  who  were 
after  all  "  aristocrats."  The  struggles  between 
these  factions  were  to  fill  the  early  months  of  the 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  179 

Convention  which  met  on  September  20,  1792, 
the  elections  having  taken  place  under  the 
gloomy  and  terrifying  impressions  produced  by 
the  September  Massacres.  On  the  same  day, 
September  20,  the  Prussians  were  stopped  in 
their  onward  march  at  Valmy.  They  were  to 
get  no  further.  The  immediate  danger  was  over. 
The  tension  was  relieved. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CONVENTION 

THE  third  Revolutionary  assembly  was  the  Na- 
tional Convention,  which  was  in  existence  for 
three  years,  from  September  20,  1792,  to  October 
26,  1795.  Called  to  draft  a  new  constitution, 
necessitated  by  the  suspension  of  Louis  XVI,  its 
first  act  was  the  abolition  of  monarchy  as  an  in- 
stitution. Before  its  final  adjournment  three 
years  later  it  had  drafted  two  different  constitu- 
tions, one  of  which  was  never  put  in  force,  it 
had  established  a  republic,  it  had  organized  a 
provisional  government  with  which  to  face  the 
appalling  problems  that  confronted  the  country, 
it  had  maintained  the  integrity  and  independence 
of  the  country,  threatened  by  complete  dissolu- 
tion, and  had  decisively  defeated  a  vast  hostile 
coalition  of  European  powers.  In  accomplish- 
ing this  gigantic  task  it  had,  however,  made  a 
record  for  cruelty  and  tyranny  that  left  the  Re- 
public in  deep  discredit  and  made  the  Revolution 
odious  to  multitudes  of  men. 

On  September  21,  1792,  the  Convention  voted 
unanimously    that    "royalty    is    abolished    in 

180 


THE  CONVENTION  181 

France."  The  following  day  it  voted  that  all 
public  documents  should  henceforth  be  dated 
from  "the  first  year  of  the  French  Republic." 
Thus  unostentatiously  did  the  Republic  make  its 
appearance  upon  the  scene  "furtively  interject- 
ing itself  between  the  factions,"  as  Robespierre 
expressed  it.  There  was  no  solemn  proclama- 
tion of  the  Republic,  merely  the  indirect  state- 
ment. As  Aulard  observes,  the  Convention  had 
the  air  of  saying  to  the  nation,  "There  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  doing  otherwise."  Later  the  Republic 
had  its  heroes,  its  victims,  its  martyrs,  but  it  was 
created  in  the  first  instance  simply  because  there 
was  nothing  else  to  do.  France  had  no  choice  in 
the  matter.  It  merely  accepted  an  imperative 
situation.  A  committee  was  immediately  ap- 
pointed to  draw  up  a  new  constitution.  Its  work, 
however,  was  long  postponed,  for  the  Conven- 
tion was  distracted  by  a  frenzied  quarrel  that 
broke  out  immediately  between  two  parties,  the 
Girondists  and  Jacobins.  The  latter  party  was 
often  called  the  Mountain,  because  of  the  raised 
seats  its  members  occupied.  It  is  not  easy  to  de- 
fine the  differences  between  these  factions,  which 
were  involved  in  what  was  fundamentally  a  strug- 
gle for  power.  Both  were  entirely  devoted  to  the 
Republic.  Between  the  two  factions  there  was  a 
large  group  of  members,  who  swung  now  this 


1 82  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

way  and  now  that,  carrying  victory  or  defeat  as 
they  shifted  their  votes.  They  were  the  center, 
the  Plain  or  the  Marsh,  as  they  were  called  be- 
cause of  the  location  of  their  seats  in  the  con- 
vention hall. 

On  one  point,  the  part  that  the  city  of  Paris 
should  be  permitted  to  play  in  the  government, 
the  difference  of  opinion  was  sharp.  The  Giron- 
dists represented  the  departments  and  insisted 
that  Paris,  which  constituted  only  one  of  the  de- 
partments of  the  eighty-three  into  which  France 
was  divided,  should  have  only  one  eighty-third 
of  influence.  They  would  tolerate  no  dictatorship 
of  the  capital.  On  the  other  hand  the  Jacobins 
drew  their  strength  from  Paris.  They  consid- 
ered Paris  the  brain  and  the  heart  of  the  coun- 
try, a  center  of  light  to  the  more  backward  prov- 
inces; they  believed  that  it  was  the  proper  and 
predestined  leader  of  the  nation,  that  it  was  in 
a  better  position  than  was  the  country  at  large 
to  appreciate  the  significance  of  measures  and 
events,  that  it  was,  as  Danton  said,  "the  chief 
sentinel  of  the  nation."  The  Girondists  were 
anxious  to  observe  legal  forms  and  processes; 
they  disliked  and  distrusted  the  frequent  appeals 
to  brute  force.  The  Jacobins,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  not  so  scrupulous.  They  were  rude,  active, 
forceful,  indifferent  to  law,  if  law  stood  in  the 


THE  CONVENTION  183 

way.  They  were  realists  and  believed  in  the  ap- 
plication of  force  wherever  and  whenever  neces- 
sary. Indeed  their  great  emphasis  was  always 
put  upon  the  necessity  of  the  state.  That  justi- 
fied everything.  In  other  words  anything  was 
legitimate  that  might  contribute  to  the  safety 
or  greatness  of  the  Republic,  whether  legal  or 
not. 

But  the  merely  personal  element  was  even 
more  important  in  dividing  and  envenoming 
these  groups.  The  Girondists  hated  the  three 
leaders  of  the  Jacobins,  Robespierre,  Marat,  and 
Danton.  Marat  and  Robespierre  returned  the 
hatred,  which  was  thus  easily  fanned  to  fever 
heat.  Danton,  a  man  of  coarse  fiber  but  large 
mould,  above  the  pettiness  of  jealousy  and  pique, 
thought  chiefly  and  instinctively  only  of  the 
cause,  the  interest  of  the  country  at  the  given 
moment.  He  had  no  scruples,  but  he  had  a  keen 
sense  for  the  practical  and  the  useful.  He  was 
anxious  to  work  with  the  Girondists,  anxious  to 
smooth  over  situations,  to  avoid  extremes,  to 
subordinate  persons  to  measures,  to  ignore  the 
spirit  of  faction  and  intrigue,  to  keep  all  repub- 
licans working  together  in  the  same  harness  for 
the  welfare  of  France.  His  was  the  spirit  of  easy- 
going compromise.  But  he  met  in  the  Giron- 
dists a  stern,  unyielding  opposition.  They  would 


1 84  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

have  nothing  to  do  with  him,  they  would  not  co- 
operate with  him,  and  they  finally  ranged  him 
among  their  enemies,  to  their  own  irreparable 
harm  and  to  his. 

The  contest  between  these  two  parties  grew 
shriller  and  more  vehement  every  day,  ending  in 
a  life  and  death  struggle.  It  began  directly  after 
the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  in  the  discussion 
as  to  what  should  be  done  with  Louis  XVI,  now 
that  monarchy  was  abolished  and  the  monarch 
a  prisoner  of  state. 

The  King  had  unquestionably  been  disloyal  to 
the  Revolution.  He  had  given  encouragement  to 
the  emigres  and  had  entered  into  the  hostile  plans 
of  the  enemies  of  France.  After  the  meeting  of 
the  Convention  a  secret  iron  box,  fashioned  by  his 
own  hand,  had  been  discovered  in  the  Tuileries 
containing  documents  which  proved  beyond 
question  his  treason.  Ought  he  to  have  the  full 
punishment  of  a  traitor  or  had  he  been  already 
sufficiently  punished,  by  the  repeated  in- 
dignities to  which  he  had  been  subjected, 
by  imprisonment,  and  by  the  loss  of  his 
throne?  Might  not  the  Convention  stay 
its  hand,  refrain  from  exacting  the  full 
measure  of  satisfaction  from  one  so  sorely  visited 
and  for  whom  so  many  excuses  lay  in  the  general 
goodness  of  his  character  and  in  the  extraor- 


THE  CONVENTION  185 

dinary  perplexities  of  his  position,  perplexities 
which  might  have  baffled  a  far  wiser  person, 
at  a  time  when  the  men  of  clearest  vision  saw 
events  as  through  a  glass,  darkly?  But  mercy 
was  not  in  the  hearts  of  men,  particularly  of  the 
Jacobins,  who  considered  Louis  the  chief  culprit 
and  unworthy  of  consideration.  The  Jacobins  at 
first  would  not  hear  even  of  a  trial.  Robespierre 
demanded  that  the  King  be  executed  forthwith 
by  a  mere  vote  of  the  Convention,  and  Saint-Just, 
a  satellite  of  Robespierre,  recalled  that  "  Caesar 
was  despatched  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Senate 
without  other  formality  than  twenty-two  dagger 
strokes."  But  Louis  was  given  a  trial,  a  trial, 
however,  before  a  packed  jury,  which  had  already 
shown  its  hatred  of  him,  before  men  who  were  at 
the  same  time  his  accusers  and  his  judges.  The 
trial  lasted  over  a  month,  Louis  himself  appear- 
ing at  the  bar,  answering  the  thirty-three  ques- 
tions that  were  put  to  him  and  which  covered  his 
conduct  during  the  Revolution.  His  statements 
were  considered  unsatisfactory.  Despite  the 
eloquent  defense  of  his  lawyer  the  Convention 
voted  on  January  15,  1793,  that  "  Louis  Capet  " 
was  "  guilty  of  conspiracy  against  the  liberty  of 
the  nation  and  of  a  criminal  attack  upon  the 
safety  of  the  state."  The  vote  was  unanimous,  a 
few  abstaining  from  voting  but  not  one  voting 


186  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

in  the  negative.  Many  of  the  Girondists  then 
urged  that  the  sentence  be  submitted  to  the 
people  for  their  final  action.  Robespierre  com- 
bated this  idea  with  vigor,  evidently  fearing  that 
the  people  would  not  go  the  whole  length.  This 
proposition  was  voted  down  by  424  votes 
against  283. 

What  should  be  the  punishment?  Voting  on 
this  question  began  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing of  January  16,  1793.  During  twenty-four 
hours  the  721  deputies  present  mounted  the  plat- 
form one  after  the  other,  and  announced  their 
votes  to  the  Convention.  At  eight  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  the  I7th  the  vote  was  completed.  The 
president  announced  the  result.  Number  voting 
721;  a  majority  361.  For  death  387;  against 
death,  or  for  delay,  334. 

On  Sunday,  January  2ist,  the  guillotine  was 
raised  in  the  square  fronting  the  Tuileries.  At 
ten  o'clock  Louis  mounted  the  fatal  steps  with 
courage  and  composure.  He  was  greater  on  the 
scaffold  than  he  had  been  upon  the  throne.  He 
endeavored  to  speak.  "Gentlemen,  I  am  inno- 
cent of  that  of  which  I  am  accused.  May  my 
blood  assure  the  happiness  of  the  French."  His 
voice  was  drowned  by  a  roll  of  drums.  He  died 
with  all  the  serenity  of  a  profoundly  religious 
man. 


THE  CONVENTION  187 

The  immediate  consequence  of  the  execution 
was  a  formidable  increase  in  the  number  of  ene- 
mies France  must  conquer  if  she  were  to  live,  and 
an  intensification  of  the  passions  involved. 
France  was  at  war  with  Austria  and  Prussia. 
Now  England,  Russia,  Spain,  Holland,  and  the 
states  of  Germany  and  Italy  entered  the  war 
against  her,  justifying  themselves  by  the  "mur- 
der of  the  King,"  although  all  had  motives  much 
more  practical  than  this  sentimental  one.  It 
was  an  excellent  opportunity  to  gain  territory 
from  a  country  which  was  plainly  in  process  of 
dissolution.  Civil  war,  too,  was  added  to  the 
turmoil,  as  the  peasants  of  the  Vendee,  100,000 
strong,  rose  against  the  republic  which  was  the 
murderer  of  the  king  and  the  persecutor  of  the 
church.  Dumouriez,  an  able  commander  of  one 
of  the  French  armies,  was  plotting  against  the 
Convention  and  was  shortly  to  go  over  to  the 
enemy,  a  traitor  to  his  country. 

The  ground  was  giving  way  everywhere.  The 
Convention  stiffened  for  the  fray,  resolved  to  do 
or  die,  or  both,  if  necessary.  No  government  was 
ever  more  energetic  or  more  dauntless.  It  voted 
to  raise  300,000  troops  immediately.  It  created 
a  committee  of  General  Security,  a  committee 
of  Public  Safety,  a  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  all 
parts  of  a  machine  that  was  intended  to  concen- 


1 88  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

trate  the  full  force  of  the  nation  upon  the  prob- 
lem of  national  salvation  and  the  annihilation  of 
the  Republic's  enemies,  whether  foreign  or  do- 
mestic. 

But  while  it  was  doing  all  this  the  Convention 
was  floundering  in  the  bog  of  angry  party  poli- 
tics. Discussion  was  beginning  its  work  of  divid- 
ing the  republicans,  preparatory  to  consuming 
them.  The  first  struggle  was  between  the  Gi- 
rondists and  the  Jacobins.  The  Girondists  wished 
to  punish  the  men  who  had  been  responsible  for 
the  September  Massacres.  They  wished  to  pun- 
ish the  Commune  for  numerous  illegal  acts.  They 
hated  Marat  and  were  able  to  get  a  vote  from  the 
Convention  sending  him  before  the  Revolution- 
ary Tribunal,  expecting  that  this  would  be  the 
end  of  him.  Instead,  he  was  acquitted  and  be- 
came the  hero  of  the  populace  of  Paris,  more 
powerful  than  before  and  now  wilder  than  ever 
in  his  denunciations.  Sanguinary  Marat,  feline 
Robespierre,  were  resolved  on  the  annihilation 
of  the  Girondists.  Danton,  thinking  of  France 
and  loathing  all  this  discord,  when  the  nation  was 
in  danger,  all  this  exaggeration  of  self,  this  con- 
temptible carnival  of  intrigue,  thinking  that 
Frenchmen  had  enemies  enough  to  fight  without 
tearing  each  other  to  pieces,  tried  to  play  the 
peacemaker.  But  he  had  the  fate  that  peacemak- 


THE  CONVENTION  189 

ers  frequently  have.     He  accomplished  nothing 
for  France  and  made  enemies  for  himself. 

The  Commune,  which  supported  the  Jacobins, 
and  which  idolized  Marat  and  respected  Robes- 
pierre, intervened  in  this  struggle,  using,  to  cut 
it  short,  its  customary  weapon,  physical  force. 
It  organized  an  insurrection  against  the  Giron- 
dists, a  veritable  army  of  80,000  men  with  sixty 
cannon.  Marat,  himself  a  member  of  the  Con- 
vention, climbed  to  the  belfry  of  the  City  Hall 
and  with  his  own  hand  sounded  the  tocsin.  This 
was  Marat's  day.  He,  self-styled  Friend  of  the 
People,  was  the  leader  of  this  movement  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  fateful  June  2,  1793. 
The  Tuileries,  where  the  Convention  sat,  was 
surrounded  by  the  insurrectionary  troops.  The 
Convention  was  the  prisoner  of  the  Commune, 
the  Government  of  France  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Government  of  Paris.  The  Commune  demanded 
the  expulsion  of  the  Girondist  leaders  from  the 
Convention.  The  Convention  protested  indig- 
nantly against  the  conduct  of  the  insurgents.  Its 
members  resolved  to  leave  the  hall  in  a  body. 
They  were  received  with  mock  deference  by  the 
insurgents.  The  demand  of  their  president  that 
the  troops  disperse  was  bluntly  refused  until  the 
Girondists  who  had  been  denounced  should  be 
expelled.  The  Convention  was  obliged  to  return 


igo  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

to  its  hall  conquered  and  degraded  and  to  vote 
the  arrest  of  twenty-nine  Girondists.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  Revolution  the  assembly  elected 
by  the  voters  of  France  was  mutilated.  Violence 
had  laid  its  hand  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  in  the  interest  of  the  rule  of  a  faction.  The 
victory  of  the  Commune  was  the  victory  of  the 
Jacobins,  who,  by  this  treason  to  the  nation,  were 
masters  of  the  Convention. 

But  not  yet  masters  of  the  country.  Indeed 
this  high-handed  crime  of  June  2  aroused  indigna- 
tion and  resistance  throughout  a  large  section  of 
France.  Had  the  departments  no  rights  which 
the  Commune  of  Paris  was  bound  to  respect? 
The  Girondists  called  the  departments  to  arms 
against  this  tyrannical  crew.  They  responded 
with  alacrity,  exasperated  and  alarmed.  Four 
of  the  largest  cities  of  France,  Lyons,  Marseilles, 
Bordeaux,  and  Caen,  took  up  arms,  and  civil 
war,  born  of  politics,  added  to  the  civil  war  born 
of  religion  in  the  Vendee,  and  to  the  ubiquitous 
foreign  war,  made  confusion  worse  confounded. 
In  all  some  sixty  departments  out  of  eighty-three 
participated  in  this  movement,  three-fourths  of 
France.  To  meet  this  danger,  to  allay  this 
strong  distrust  of  Paris  felt  by  the  de- 
partments, to  show  them  that  they  need 
not  fear  the  dictatorship  of  the  Commune,  the 


THE  CONVENTION  191 

Convention  drafted  in  great  haste  the  constitu- 
tion which  it  had  been  summoned  to  make,  but 
which  it  had  for  months  ignored  in  the  heat 
of  party  politics.  And  the  Constitution  of  1793, 
the  second  in  the  history  of  the  Revolution, 
guarded  so  carefully  the  rights  of  the  depart- 
ments and  the  rights  of  the  people  that  it  made 
Parisian  dictation  impossible. 

The  Constitution  of  1793  established  universal 
suffrage.  It  also  carried  decentralization  farther 
than  did  the  Constitution  of  1791,  which  had  car- 
ried it  much  too  far.  The  Legislature  was  to  be 
elected  only  for  a  year,  and  all  laws  were  to  be 
submitted  to  the  people  for  ratification  or  rejec- 
tion before  being  put  into  force.  This  is  the  first 
appearance  of  the  referendum.  The  executive 
was  to  consist  of  twenty-four  members  chosen 
by  the  legislature  out  of  a  list  drawn  up  by  the 
electors  and  consisting  of  one  person  from  each 
department. 

This  constitution  worked  like  a  charm  in  dis- 
sipating the  distrust  of  the  departments.  Their 
rights  could  not  be  better  safeguarded.  Sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  the  constitution  was  over- 
whelmingly ratified,  over  1,000,000  votes  in  its 
favor,  less  than  12,000  in  opposition.  But  this 
is  the  only  way  in  which  this  constitution  ever 
worked.  So  thoroughly  did  it  decentralize  the 


192  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

state,  so  weak  did  it  leave  the  central  govern- 
ment, that  even  those  who  had  accepted  it  cor- 
dially saw  that  it  could  not  be  applied  imme- 
diately, with  foreign  armies  streaming  into 
France  from  every  direction.  What  was  needed 
for  the  crisis  as  every  one  saw,  was  a  strong  gov- 
ernment. Consequently  by  general  agreement 
the  constitution  was  immediately  suspended,  as 
soon  as  it  was  made.  The  suspension  was  to  be 
merely  provisional.  As  soon  as  the  crisis  should 
pass  it  should  be  put  into  operation.  Meanwhile 
this  precious  document  was  put  into  a  box  in  the 
center  of  the  convention  hall  and  was  much  in 
the  way. 

To  meet  the  crisis,  to  enable  France  to  hew  her 
way  through  the  tangle  of  complexities  and  dan- 
gers that  confronted  her,  a  provisional  govern- 
ment was  created,  a  government  as  strong  as 
the  one  provided  by  the  constitution  was  weak, 
as  efficient  as  that  would  have  proved  in- 
efficient. The  new  system  was  frankly  based 
on  force,  and  it  inaugurated  a  Reign  of  Terror 
which  has  remained  a  hissing  and  a  byword 
among  the  nations  ever  since.  This  provisional 
or  revolutionary  government  was  lodged  in 
the  Convention.  The  Convention  was  the  sole 
nerve  center  whence  shot  forth  to  the  farthest 
confines  of  the  land  the  iron  resolutions  that  beat 


THE  CONVENTION  193 

down  all  opposition  and  fired  all  energies  to  a 
single  end.  The  Convention  was  dictator,  and  it 
organized  a  government  that  was  more  absolute, 
more  tyrannical,  more  centralized  than  the  Bour- 
bon monarchy,  in  its  palmiest  days,  had  ever 
dreamed  of  being.  Montesquieu's  sacred  doc- 
trine of  the  separation  of  powers,  which  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  had  found  so  excellent,  was 
ignored. 

The  machinery  of  this  provisional  government 
consisted  of  two  important  committees,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Convention,  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  and  the  Committee  of  General 
Security;  also  of  representatives  on  mission,  of 
the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  and  of  the  political 
clubs  and  committees  of  surveillance  in  the  cities 
and  villages  throughout  the  country. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  consisted  at 
first  of  nine,  later  of  twelve  members.  Chosen 
by  the  Convention  for  a  term  of  a  month,  they 
were,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  reflected  month  after 
month,  changes  only  occurring  when  parties 
changed  in  the  Assembly.  Thus  Danton,  upon 
whose  suggestion  the  original  committee  had 
been  created,  was  not  a  member  of  the  enlarged 
committee,  reorganized  after  the  expulsion  of 
the  Girondists.  He  was  dropped  because  he  cen- 
sured the  acts  of  June  2,  and  his  enemy  Robes- 


194  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

pierre  became  the  leading  member.  At  first  this 
committee  was  charged  simply  with  the  manage- 
ment of  foreign  affairs  and  of  the  army,  but  in 
the  end  it  became  practically  omnipotent,  direct- 
ing the  state  as  no  single  despot  had  ever  done, 
intervening  in  every  department  of  the  nation's  af- 
fairs, even  holding  the  Convention  itself,  of  which 
in  theory  it  was  the  creature,  in  stern  and  terri- 
fied subjection  to  itself.  Installing  itself  in  the 
palace  of  the  Tuileries,  in  the  former  royal  apart- 
ments, it  developed  a  prodigious  activity,  fram- 
ing endless  decrees,  tossing  thousands  of  men  to 
the  guillotine,  sending  thousands  upon  thousands 
against  the  enemies  of  France,  guiding,  animat- 
ing, tyrannizing  ruthlessly  a  people  which  had 
taken  such  pains  to  declare  itself  free,  only  to  find 
its  fragile  liberties,  so  resoundingly  affirmed  in 
the  famous  Declaration,  ground  to  powder  be- 
neath this  iron  heel.  No  men  ever  worked  harder 
in  discharging  an  enormous  mass  of  business  of 
every  kind  than  did  the  members  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Public  Safety.  Hour  after  hour,  around 
a  green  table,  they  listened  to  reports,  framed 
decrees,  appointed  officials.  Sometimes  over- 
come with  weariness  they  threw  themselves  on 
mattresses  spread  upon  the  floor  of  their  com- 
mittee room,  snatched  two  or  three  hours  of 
sleep,  then  roused  themselves  to  the  racking  work 


THE  CONVENTION  195 

again.  Under  them  was  the  Committee  of  Gen- 
eral Security,  whose  business  was  really  police 
duty,  maintaining  order  throughout  the  country, 
throwing  multitudes  of  suspected  persons  into 
prison,  whence  they  emerged  only  to  encounter 
another  redoubtable  organ  of  this  government, 
the  Revolutionary  Tribunal. 

This  Tribunal  had  been  created  at  Danton's 
suggestion.  It  was  an  extraordinary  criminal 
court,  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  trying 
traitors  and  conspirators  rapidly.  No  appeal 
could  be  taken  from  its  decisions.  Its  sentences 
were  always  sentences  of  death.  Later,  when 
Robespierre  dominated  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  the  number  of  judges  was  increased  and 
they  were  divided  into  four  sections,  all  holding 
sessions  at  the  same  time.  Appointed  by  the 
Committee,  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  servilely 
carried  out  its  orders.  It  acted  with  a  rapidity 
that  made  a  cruel  farce  of  justice.  A  man  might 
be  informed  at  ten  o'clock  that  he  was  to  appear 
before  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  at  eleven.  By 
two  o'clock  he  was  sentenced,  by  four  he  was 
executed. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  had  another 
organ — the  representatives  on  mission.  These 
were  members  of  the  Convention  sent,  two  to 
each  department,  and  two  to  each  army,  to  see 


196  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

that  the  will  of  the  Convention  was  carried  out. 
Their  powers  were  practically  unlimited.  They 
could  not  themselves  pronounce  the  sentence  of 
death,  but  a  word  from  them  was  sufficient  to 
send  to  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  any  one  who 
incurred  their  suspicion  or  displeasure. 

There  were  other  parts  of  this  governmental 
machinery,  wheels  within  wheels,  revolution- 
ary clubs,  affiliated  with  the  Jacobin  Club  in 
Paris,  revolutionary  committees  of  surveillance. 
Through  them  the  will  of  the  great  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  penetrated  to  the  tiniest  ham- 
let, to  the  remotest  corner  of  the  land.  The 
Republic  was  held  tight  in  this  closely-woven 
mesh. 

This  machinery  was  created  to  meet  a  national 
need,  of  the  most  pressing  character.  The  coun- 
try was  in  danger,  in  direst  danger,  of  submer- 
sion under  a  flood  of  invasion;  also  in  danger  of 
disruption  from  within.  The  authors  of  this  sys- 
tem were  originally  men  who  appreciated  the 
critical  situation,  who  grasped  facts  as  they  were, 
who  were  resolute  to  put  down  every  foreign 
and  domestic  enemy,  and  who  thrilled  the  people 
with  their  appeals  to  boundless,  self-sacrificing 
patriotism.  Had  this  machinery  been  used  in  the 
way  and  for  the  purpose  intended,  it  is  not  likely 
that  it  would  have  enjoyed  the  dismal,  repellent 


THE  CONVENTION  197 

reputation  with  posterity  which  it  has  enjoyed. 
France  would  have  willingly  endured  and  sanc- 
tioned a  direct  and  strong  government,  ruthlessly 
subordinating  personal  happiness  and  even  per- 
sonal security  to  the  needs  of  national  welfare. 
No  cause  could  be  higher,  and  none  makes  a 
wider  or  surer  appeal  to  men.  But  the  system 
was  not  restricted  to  this  end.  It  was  applied 
to  satisfy  personal  and  party  intrigues  and  ran- 
cors, it  was  used  to  further  the  ambitions  of  in- 
dividuals, it  was  crassly  distorted  and  debased. 
The  system  did  not  spring  full-blown  from  the 
mind  of  any  man  or  any  group.  It  grew  piece  by 
piece,  now  this  item  being  added,  now  that. 
Those  who  fashioned  it  believed  that  only  by  ap- 
pealing to  or  arousing  one  of  the  emotions  of 
men,  fear,  could  the  government  get  their  com- 
plete and  energetic  support.  The  success  of  the 
Revolution  could  not  be  assured  simply  by  love 
or  admiration  of  its  principles  and  its  deeds — that 
was  proved  by  events,  the  difficulties  had  only 
increased.  There  were  too  many  persons  who 
hated  the  Revolution.  But  even  these  had  an 
emotion  that  could  be  touched,  the  sense  of 
fear,  horror,  dread.  That,  too,  is  a  powerful  in- 
centive to  action.  "  Let  terror  be  the  order  of 
the  day,"  such  was  the  official  philosophy  of  the 
creators  of  this  government,  and  it  has  given 


198  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

their  system  its  name.  Punish  disloyalty  swiftly 
and  pitilessly  and  you  create  loyalty,  if  not  from 
love,  at  least  from  fear,  which  will  prove  a  pass- 
able substitute. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  and  the 
Convention  lost  no  time  in  striking  a  fast 
pace.  To  meet  the  needs  of  the  war  a  general 
call  for  troops  was  issued.  Seven  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  men  were  secured.  '  What  we 
need  is  audacity,  and  more  audacity,  and  audac- 
ity always "  was  a  phrase  epitomizing  this 
aspect  of  history,  a  phrase  thrown  out  by  Dan- 
ton,  a  man  who  knew  how  to  sound  the  bugle 
call,  knew  how  to  mint  the  passion  of  the 
hour  in  striking  form  and  give  it  the  impress 
of  his  dynamic  personality.  Carnot,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
performed  herculean  feats  in  getting  this  enor- 
mous mass  of  men  equipped,  disciplined,  and  offi- 
cered. A  dozen  armies  were  the  result  and  they 
were  hurled  in  every  direction  at  the  enemies  of 
France.  Representatives  of  the  Convention  ac- 
companied each  general,  demanding  victory  of 
him  or  letting  him  know  that  his  head  would 
fall  if  victory  were  not  forthcoming.  Some  did 
fail,  even  under  this  terrific  incentive,  this  literal 
choice  between  victory  or  death,  and  they  went 
to  the  scaffold.  It  was  an  inhuman  punishment 


THE  CONVENTION  199 

but  it  had  tremendous  effects,  inspiring  desperate 
energy.  The  armies  made  superhuman  efforts 
and  were  wonderfully  successful.  A  group  of 
fearless,  reckless,  and  thoroughly  competent 
commanders  emerged  rapidly  from  the  ranks. 
We  shall  shortly  observe  the  reaction  of  these 
triumphant  campaigns  upon  the  domestic  politi- 
cal situation. 

While  this  terrific  effort  to  hurl  back  the  in- 
vaders of  France  was  going  on,  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  was  engaged  in  a  lynx-eyed, 
comprehensive  campaign  at  home  against  all  do- 
mestic enemies  or  persons  accused  of  being  such. 
By  the  famous  law  of  "suspects,"  every  one  in 
France  was  brought  within  its  iron  grip.  This 
law  was  so  loosely  and  vaguely  worded,  it  indi- 
cated so  many  classes  of  individuals,  that  under 
its  provisions  practically  any  one  in  France  could 
be  arrested  and  sent  before  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal.  All  were  guilty  of  treason,  and  pun- 
ishable with  death,  who  "having  done  nothing 
against  liberty  have  nevertheless  done  nothing 
for  it."  No  guilty,  and  also  no  innocent,  man 
could  be  sure  of  escaping  so  elastic  a  law,  or,  if 
arrested,  could  expect  justice  from  a  court  which 
ignored  the  usual  forms  of  law,  which,  ultimately, 
deprived  prisoners  of  the  right  to  counsel,  and 
which  condemned  them  in  batches.  Yet  the  Dec- 


200  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

laration  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  which  had  seemed 
a  new  evangel  to  an  optimistic  world,  had  stated 
that  henceforth  no  one  should  be  arrested  or  im- 
prisoned except  in  cases  determined  by  law  and 
according  to  the  forms  of  law. 

A  tree  is  judged  by  its  fruits.  Consider  the 
results  in  this  case.  In  every  city,  town,  and 
hamlet  of  France  arrests  of  suspected  persons 
were  made  en  masse,  and  judgment  and  execution 
were  rendered  in  almost  the  same  summary  and 
comprehensive  fashion.  Only  a  few  instances 
can  be  selected  from  this  calendar  of  crime.  The 
city  of  Lyons  had  sprung  to  the  defense  of  the 
Girondists  after  their  expulsion  from  the  Conven- 
tion on  June  2.  It  took  four  months  and  a  half 
and  a  considerable  army  to  put  down  the  oppo- 
sition of  this,  the  second  city  of  France.  When 
this  was  accomplished  the  Convention  passed  a 
fierce  resolution:  "  The  city  of  Lyons  is  to  be  de- 
stroyed. Every  house  which  was  inhabited  by 
the  rich  shall  be  demolished.  There  will  remain 
only  the  homes  of  the  poor,  of  patriots,  and  build- 
ings especially  employed  for  industries,  and  those 
edifices  dedicated  to  humanity  and  to  education." 
The  name  of  this  famous  city  was  to  be  obliter- 
ated. It  was  henceforth  to  be  known  as  the  Lib- 
erated City  (Commune  affranchie).  This  savage 
sentence  was  not  carried  out,  demolition  on  so 


THE  CONVENTION  201 

large  a  scale  not  being  easy.  Only  a  few  build- 
ings were  blown  to  pieces.  But  over  3,500  per- 
sons were  arrested  and  nearly  half  of  them  were 
executed.  The  authorities  began  by  shoot- 
ing each  one  individually.  The  last  were 
mowed  down  in  batches  by  cannon  or  musketry 
fire.  Similar  scenes  were  enacted,  though  not 
on  .so  extensive  a  scale,  in  Toulon  and  Marseilles. 
It  was  for  the  Vendee  that  the  worst  ferocities 
were  reserved.  The  Vendee  had  been  in  rebellion 
against  the  Republic,  and  in  the  interest  of  coun- 
ter-revolution. The  people  had  been  angered  by 
the  laws  against  the  priests.  Moreover  the  people 
of  that  section  refused  to  fight  in  the  Republic's 
armies.  It  was  entirely  legitimate  for  the  gov- 
ernment to  crush  this  rebellion,  and  it  did  so  after 
an  indescribably  cruel  war,  in  which  neither  side 
gave  quarter.  Carrier,  the  representative  on  mis- 
sion sent  out  by  the  Convention,  established  a 
gruesome  record  for  barbarity.  He  did  not 
adopt  the  method  followed  by  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal  in  Paris,  which  at  least  pretended  to  try 
the  accused  before  sentencing  them  to  death. 
This  was  too  slow  a  process.  Prisoners  were  shot 
in  squads,  nearly  2,000  of  them.  Drowning  was 
resorted  to.  Carrier's  victims  were  bound,  put 
on  boats,  and  the  boats  then  sunk  in  the  river 
Loire.  Women  and  children  were  among  the 


202  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

number.  Even  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety 
was  shocked  at  Carrier's  fiendish  ingenuity  and 
demanded  an  explanation.  He  had  the  insolence 
to  pretend  that  the  drownings  were  accidental. 
"  Is  it  my  fault  that  the  boats  did  not  reach  their 
destination?"  he  asked.  The  number  of  bodies 
in  the  river  was  so  great  that  the  water  was 
poisoned  and  for  that  reason  the  city  govern- 
ment of  Nantes  forbade  the  eating  of  fish.  Car- 
rier was  later  removed  by  the  Committee,  but 
was  not  further  punished  by  it,  though  ultimately 
he  found  his  way  to  the  guillotine. 

Meanwhile  at  Paris  the  Revolutionary  Tri- 
bunal was  daily  sending  its  victims  to  the  guillo- 
tine, after  trials  which  were  travesties  of  justice. 
Guillotines  were  erected  in  two  of  the  public 
squares  and  each  day  saw  its  executions.  Week 
after  week  went  by,  and  head  after  head  dropped 
into  the  insatiable  basket.  Many  of  the  victims 
were  emigres  or  non-juring  priests  who  had  come 
back  to  France,  others  were  generals  who  had 
failed  of  the  indispensable  victory  and  had  been 
denounced  as  traitors.  Others  still  were  persons 
who  had  favored  the  Revolution  at  an  earlier 
stage  and  had  worked  for  it,  but  who  had  later 
been  on  the  losing  side  in  the  fierce  party  contests 
which  had  rent  the  Convention.  Nowadays  po- 
litical struggles  lead  to  the  overthrow  of  min- 


THE  CONVENTION  203 

isters.  But  in  France,  as  in  Renaissance  Italy, 
they  led  to  the  death  of  the  defeated  party,  or  at 
least  of  its  leaders.  As  the  blood-madness  grew 
in  intensity,  it  was  voted  by  the  Convention,  in 
order  to  speed  up  the  murderous  pace,  that  the 
Revolutionary  Tribunal  after  hearing  a  case  for 
three  days  might  then  decide  it  without  further 
examination  if  it  considered  "its  conscience  suffi- 
ciently enlightened." 

The  Girondists  were  conspicuous  victims. 
Twenty-one  of  them  were  guillotined  on  October 
31,  1793,  among  them  Madame  Roland,  who  went 
to  the  scaffold  "fresh,  calm,  smiling,"  according 
to  a  friend  who  saw  her  go.  She  had  regretted 
that  she  "had  not  been  born  a  Spartan  or  a 
Roman,"  a  superfluous  regret,  as  was  shown  by 
the  manner  of  her  death,  "  at  only  thirty-nine," 
words  with  which  she  closed  the  passionate 
Memoirs  she  wrote  while  in  prison.  Mounting 
the  scaffold  she  caught  sight  of  a  statue  of  lib- 
erty. "  O  Liberty,  how  they've  played  with 
you!"  she  exclaimed. 

She  had  been  preceded  some  days  before  by 
Marie  Antoinette,  the  daughter  of  an  empress, 
the  wife  of  a  king,  child  of  fortune  and  of  mis- 
fortune beyond  compare.  The  Queen  had  been 
subjected  to  an  obscene  trial,  accused  of  inde- 
scribable vileness,  the  corruption  of  her  son.  "  If 


204  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

I  have  not  answered,"  she  cried,  "  it  is  because 
Nature  herself  rejects  such  a  charge  made  against 
a  mother:  I  appeal  to  all  who  are  here."  This 
woman's  cry  so  moved  the  audience  to  sympathy 
that  the  officials  cut  the  trial  short,  allowing  the 
lawyers  only  fifteen  minutes  to  finish.  The  Queen 
bore  herself  courageously.  She  did  not  flinch. 
She  was  brave  to  the  end.  Marie  Antoinette  has 
never  ceased  to  command  the  sympathy  of  pos- 
terity, as  her  tragic  story,  and  the  fall  to  which 
her  errors  partly  led  and  the  proud  and  noble 
courage  with  which  she  met  her  mournful  fate, 
have  never  ceased  to  move  its  pity  and  respect. 
She  stands  in  history  as  one  of  its  most  melan- 
choly figures. 

Charlotte  Corday,  a  Norman  girl,  who  had 
stabbed  the  notorious  Marat  to  death,  thinking 
thus  to  free  her  country,  paid  the  penalty  with 
serenity  and  dignity.  All  through  these  months 
men  witnessed  a  tragic  procession  up  the  scaf- 
fold's steps  of  those  who  were  great  by  position 
or  character  or  service  or  reputation;  Bailly, 
celebrated  as  an  astronomer  and  as  the  Mayor 
of  Paris  in  the  early  Revolution;  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  who  had  played  a  shameless  part  in  the 
Revolution,  having  been  demagogue  enough  to 
discard  his  name  and  call  himself  Philip  Equal- 
ity, and  having  infamously  voted,  as  a  member 


THE  CONVENTION  205 

of  the  Convention,  for  the  death  of  his  cousin, 
Louis  XVI;  Barnave,  next  to  Mirabeau  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  leaders  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly; and  so  it  went,  daily  executions  in  Paris 
and  yet  others  in  the  provinces.  Some,  fleeing 
the  terror  that  walked  by  day  and  night,  caught 
at  bay,  committed  suicide,  like  Condorcet,  last 
of  the  philosophers,  and  gifted  theorist  of  the 
Republic.  Still  others  wandered  through  the 
countryside  haggard,  gaunt,  and  were  finally 
shot  down,  as  beasts  of  the  field.  Yet  all  this 
did  not  constitute  "  the  Great  Terror,"  as  it  was 
called.  That  came  later. 

Thus  far  there  was  at  least  a  semblance  or  pre- 
tense of  punishing  the  enemies  of  the  Republic, 
the  enemies  of  France.  But  now  these  odious 
methods  were  to  be  used  as  a  means  of  destroy- 
ing political  and  personal  enemies.  Politics 
assumed  the  character  and  risks  of  war. 

We  have  seen  that  since  August  10,  1792,  there 
were  two  powers  in  the  state,  the  Commune  or 
government  of  Paris  and  the  Convention  or  gov- 
ernment of  France,  now  directed  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Public  Safety.  These  two  had  in  the  main 
cooperated  thus  far,  overthrowing  the  mon- 
archy, overthrowing  the  Girondists.  But  now 
dissension  raised  its  head  and  harmony  was  no 
more.  The  Commune  was  in  the  control  of  the 


206  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

most  violent  party  that  the  Revolution  had  de- 
veloped. Its  leaders  were  Hebert  and  Chaumette. 
Hebert  conducted  a  journal,  the  Pere  Duchesne, 
which  was  both  obscene  and  profane  and  which 
was  widely  read  in  Paris  by  the  lowest  classes. 
Hebert  and  Chaumette  reigned  in  the  City  Hall, 
drew  their  strength  from  the  rabble  of  the  streets 
which  they  knew  how  to  incite  and  hurl  at  their 
enemies.  They  were  ultra  radicals,  audacious, 
truculent.  They  constantly  demanded  new  and 
redoubled  applications  of  terror.  For  a  while 
they  dominated  the  Convention.  Carrier,  one 
of  the  Convention's  representatives  on  mission, 
was  really  a  tool  of  the  Commune. 

It  was  the  Commune  which  now  forced  the 
Convention  to  attempt  the  dechristianization  of 
France.  For  this  purpose  a  new  calendar  was 
desired,  a  calendar  that  should  discard  Sun- 
days, saints'  days,  religious  festivals,  and  set 
up  novel  and  entirely  secular  divisions  of  time. 
Henceforth  the  month  was  to  be  divided,  not 
into  weeks,  but  into  decades  or  periods  of  ten 
days.  Every  tenth  day  was  to  be  the  rest  day. 
The  days  of  the  months  were  changed  to  indi- 
cate natural  phenomena,  July  becoming  Ther- 
midor,  or  period  of  heat;  April  becoming  Ger- 
minal, or  budding  time;  November  becoming 
Brumaire,  or  period  of  fogs.  Henceforth  men 


THE  CONVENTION  207 

were  to  date,  not  from  the  birth  of  Christ,  but 
from  the  birth  of  Liberty.  The  year  One  of 
Liberty  began  September  21,  1792.  The  world 
was  young  again.  The  day  was  divided  into 
ten  hours,  not  twenty-four,  and  the  ten  were 
subdivided  and  subdivided  into  smaller  units. 
This  calendar  was  made  obligatory.  But  great 
was  the  havoc  created  by  the  new  chronology. 
Parents  were  required  to  instruct  their  children 
in  the  new  method  of  reckoning  time.  But  the 
parents  had  been  brought  up  on  the  old  sys- 
tem and  experienced  much  difficulty  in  telling 
what  time  of  day  it  was  according  to  the  new 
terminology.  Watchmakers  were  driven  to  add 
another  circle  to  the  faces  of  their  watches. 
One  circle  carried  the  familiar  set  of  figures,  the 
other  carried  the  new.  Thus  was  one  difficulty 
partially  conjured  away.  The  new  calendar 
lasted  twelve  years.  It  was  frankly  and  inten- 
tionally anti-Christian.  The  Christian  era  was 
repudiated. 

More  important  was  the  attempt  to  improvise 
a  new  religion.  Reason  was  henceforth  to  be 
worshiped,  no  longer  the  Christian  God.  A  be- 
ginning was  made  in  the  campaign  for  dechris- 
tianization  by  removing  the  bells  from  the 
churches,  "  the  Eternal's  gewgaws,"  they  were 
called,  and  by  making  cannon  and  coin  out  of 


ao8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

them.  Death  was  declared  to  be  "  but  an  eternal 
sleep " — thus  Heaven,  and  Hell  as  well,  was 
abolished.  There  was  a  demand  that  church 
spires  be  torn  down  "  as  by  their  domination 
over  other  buildings  they  seem  to  violate  the 
principle  of  equality,"  and  many  were  conse- 
quently sacrificed.  This  sorry  business  reached 
its  climax  in  the  formal  establishment  by  the 
Commune  of  Paris  of  the  Worship  of  Reason. 
On  November  10,  1793,  the  Cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame  was  converted  into  a  "Temple  of  Reason." 
The  ceremony  of  that  day  has  been  famous  for  a 
century  and  its  fame  may  last  another.  A  dancer 
from  the  opera,  wearing  the  three  colors  of  the 
republic,  sat,  as  the  Goddess  of  Reason,  upon  the 
Altar  of  Liberty,  where  formerly  the  Holy  Vir- 
gin had  been  enthroned,  and  received  the  hom- 
age of  her  devotees.  After  this  many  other 
churches  in  Paris,  and  even  in  the  provinces,  were 
changed  into  Temples  of  Reason.  The  sacred 
vessels  used  in  Catholic  services  were  burned 
or  melted  down.  In  some  cases  the  stone  saints 
that  ornamented,  or  at  least  diversified,  the  fa- 
cades of  churches,  were  thrown  down  and  broken 
or  burned.  At  Notre  Dame  in  Paris  they  were 
boarded  over,  and  thus  preserved  for  a  period 
when  their  contamination  would  not  be  feared 
or  felt.  Every  tenth  day  services  were  held. 


THE  CONVENTION  209 

They  might  take  the  form  of  philosophical  dis- 
courses or  political,  or  the  form  of  popular  ban- 
quets or  balls. 

The  proclamation  of  this  Worship  of  Reason 
was  the  high-water  mark  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
Commune.  The  Convention  had  been  compelled 
to  yield,  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  to  ac- 
quiesce in  conduct  of  which  it  did  not  approve. 
Robespierre  was  irritated,  partly  because  he  had 
a  religion  of  his  own  which  he  preferred  and 
which  he  wished  in  time  to  bring  forward  and  im- 
pose upon  France,  partly  because  as  a  member 
of  the  great  Committee  he  resented  the  exist- 
ence of  a  rival  so  powerful  as  the  Commune. 
The  Hebertists  had  shot  their  bolt.  Robespierre 
now  shot  his.  In  a  carefully  prepared  speech 
he  declared  that  "  Atheism  is  aristocratic.  The 
idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  who  watches  over 
oppressed  innocence  and  who  punishes  trium- 
phant crime,  is  thoroughly  democratic."  He  fur- 
tively urged  on  all  attacks  upon  the  blasphemous 
Commune  as  when  Danton  declared,  "These 
anti-religious  masquerades  in  the  Convention 
must  cease." 

But  Robespierre  was  the  secret  enemy  of  Dan- 
ton  as  well,  though  for  a  very  different  reason. 
The  Commune  stood  for  the  Terror  in  all  its 
forms  and  demanded  that  it  be  maintained  in  all 


210  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

its  vigor.  On  the  other  hand  Danton,  Camille 
Desmoulins,  and  their  friends,  ardent  supporters 
of  the  Terror  as  long  as  it  was  necessary,  be- 
lieved that  now  the  need  for  it  had  passed  and 
wished  its  rigor  mitigated  and  the  system  gradu- 
ally abandoned.  The  armies  of  the  Republic  were 
everywhere  successful,  the  invaders  had  been 
driven  back,  and  domestic  insurrections  had  been 
stamped  out.  Sick  at  heart  of  bloodshed  now 
that  it  was  no  longer  required,  the  Dantonists 
began  to  recommend  clemency  to  the  Convention. 
The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  was  opposed 
to  both  these  factions,  the  Hebertists  and  the 
Dantonists,  and  Robespierre  was  at  the  center 
of  an  intrigue  to  ruin  both.  The  description  of 
the  machinations  and  manceuvers  which  went  on 
in  the  Convention  cannot  be  undertaken  here. 
To  make  them  clear  would  require  much  space. 
It  must  suffice  to  say  that  first  the  Committee 
directed  all  its  powers  against  the  Commune  and 
dared  on  March  13,  1794,  to  order  the  arrest  of 
Hebert  and  his  friends.  Eleven  days  later  they 
were  guillotined.  The  rivalry  of  the  Commune 
was  over.  The  Convention  was  supreme.  But 
the  Committee  had  no  desire  to  bring  the  Terror 
to  an  end.  Several  of  its  members  saw  their  own 
doom  in  any  lessening  of  its  severity.  Looking 
out  for  their  own  heads,  they  therefore  resolved 


THE  CONVENTION  211 

to  kill  Danton,  as  the  representative  of  the  dan- 
gerous policy  of  moderation.  This  man  who  had 
personified  as  no  one  else  had  done  the  national 
temper  in  its  crusade  against  the  allied  mon- 
archs,  who  had  been  the  very  central  pillar  of  the 
state  in  a  terrible  crisis,  who,  when  France  was 
for  a  moment  discouraged,  had  nerved  her  to  new 
effort  by  the  electrifying  cry,  "We  must  dare 
and  dare  again  and  dare  without  end/'  now 
fell  a  victim  to  the  wretched  and  frenzied  inter- 
necine struggles  of  the  politicians,  because,  now 
that  the  danger  was  over,  he  advocated,  with  his 
vastly  heightened  prestige,  a  return  to  modera- 
tion and  conciliation.  Terror  as  a  means  of  an- 
nihilating his  country's  enemies  he  approved. 
Terror  as  a  means  of  oppressing  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen, the  crisis  once  passed,  he  deplored  and 
tried  to  stop.  He  failed.  The  wheel  was  tearing 
around  too  rapidly.  He  was  one  of  the  tempestu- 
ous victims  of  the  Terror.  When  he  plead  for 
peace,  for  a  cessation  of  sanguinary  and  ferocious 
partisan  politics,  his  rivals  turned  venomously, 
murderously  against  him.  Conscious  of  his  pa- 
triotism he  did  not  believe  that  they  would  dare 
to  strike  him.  A  friend  entered  his  study  as  he 
was  sitting  before  the  fire  in  revery  and  told  him 
that  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  had  ordered 
his  arrest.  "Well,  then,  what  then?"  said  Danton. 


212  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

"You  must  resist."  "That  means  the  shedding  of 
blood,  and  I  am  sick  of  it.  I  would  rather  be  guillo- 
tined than  guillotine,"  he  replied.  He  was  urged 
to  fly.  "Whither  fly?"  he  answered.  "You 
do  not  carry  your  country  on  the  sole  of  your 
shoe,"  and  he  muttered,  "  They  will  not  dare, 
they  will  not  dare." 

But  they  did  dare.  The  next  day  he  was  in 
prison.  In  prison  he  was  heard  to  say,  "  A  year 
ago  I  proposed  the  establishment  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal.  I  ask  pardon  for  it,  of  God 
and  man/'  And  again,  "  I  leave  everything  in 
frightful  confusion;  not  one  of  them  under- 
stands anything  of  government.  Robespierre 
will  follow  me.  I  drag  down  Robespierre.  One 
had  better  be  a  poor  fisherman  than  meddle 
with  the  governing  of  men."  On  the  scaffold 
he  exclaimed,  "  Danton,  no  weakness ! "  His 
last  words  were  addressed  to  the  executioner. 
"  Show  my  head  to  the  people ;  it  is  worth  show- 
ing." 

The  fall  of  Danton  left  Robespierre  the  most 
conspicuous  person  on  the  scene,  the  most  influ- 
ential member  of  the  Convention  and  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety.  He  was  master  of  the 
Jacobins.  The  Commune  was  filled  with  his 
friends,  anxious  to  do  his  bidding.  The  Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal  was  controlled  and  operated  by 


THE  CONVENTION  213 

his  followers.  For  nearly  four  months,  from 
April  5  to  July  27,  he  was  practically  dictator. 

A  very  singular  despot  for  a  people  like  the 
French.  His  qualities  were  not  those  which  have 
characterized  the  leaders  or  the  masses  of  that 
nation.  The  most  authoritative  French  his- 
torian of  this  period,  Aulard,  notes  this  fact.  As 
a  politician  Robespierre  was  "astute,  mysterious, 
undecipherable."  "What  we  see  of  his  soul  is 
most  repellent  to  our  French  instincts  of  frank- 
ness and  loyalty.  Robespierre  was  a  hypocrite 
and  he  erected  hypocrisy  into  a  system  of  govern- 
ment." 

He  had  begun  as  a  small  provincial  lawyer. 
He  fed  upon  Rousseau,  and  was  the  narrow  and 
anemic  embodiment  of  Rousseau's  ideas.  He 
had  made  his  reputation  at  the  Jacobin  Club, 
where  he  delivered  speeches  carefully  retouched 
and  finished,  abounding  in  platitudes  that 
pleased,  entirely  lacking  in  the  fire,  the  dash, 
the  stirring,  impromptu  phrases  of  a  Mirabeau 
or  a  Danton.  His  style  was  correct,  mediocre, 
thin,  formal,  academic.  "  Virtue  "  was  his  stock 
in  trade  and  he  made  virtue  odious  by  his  ever- 
lasting talk  of  it,  by  his  smug  assumption  of  moral 
superiority,  approaching  even  the  hazardous  pre- 
tension to  perfection.  He  was  forever  singing 
his  own  praises  with  a  lamentable  lack  of  humor 


2H  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

and  of  taste.  "I  have  never  bowed  beneath  the 
yoke  of  baseness  and  corruption,"  he  said.  He 
won  the  title  of  "The  Incorruptible." 

As  a  politician  his  policy  had  been  to  use  up 
his  enemies,  and  every  rival  was  an  enemy,  by 
suggesting  vaguely  but  opportunely  that  they 
were  impure,  corrupt,  immoral,  and  by  setting 
the  springs  in  motion  that  landed  them  on  the 
scaffold.  He  had  himself  stepped  softly,  warily, 
past  the  ambushes  that  lay  in  wait  for  the  care- 
less or  the  impetuous.  By  such  processes  he  had 
survived  and  was  now  the  man  of  the  hour,  im- 
mensely popular  with  the  masses,  and  feared  by 
those  who  disliked  him.  How  would  he  use  his 
power,  his  opportunity? 

He  used  it,  not  to  bring  peace  to  a  sadly  dis- 
tracted country,  not  to  heal  the  wounds,  not  to 
clinch  the  work  of  the  Revolution,  but  to  attempt 
to  force  a  great  nation  to  enact  into  legislation 
the  ideas  of  a  highly  sentimental  philosopher, 
Rousseau.  It  was  to  be  a  Reign  of  Virtue. 
Robespierre's  ambition  was  to  make  virtue  tri- 
umphant, a  laudable  purpose,  if  the  definition  of 
virtue  be  satisfactory  and  the  methods  for  bring- 
ing about  her  reign  honorable  and  humane.  But 
in  this  case  they  were  not. 

Robespierre  stands  revealed,  as  he  also  stands 
condemned,  by  the  two  acts  associated  with  his 


THE  CONVENTION  215 

career  as  dictator,  the  proclamation  of  a  new 
religion  and  the  Law  of  Prairial  altering  for 
the  worst  the  already  monstrous  Revolutionary 
Tribunal.  Robespierre  had  once  said  in  public, 
"  If  God  did  not  exist  we  should  have  to  in- 
vent him."  Fortunately  for  a  man  of  such 
poverty  of  thought  as  he,  he  did  not  have  to 
resort  to  invention  but  found  God  already  in- 
vented by  his  idolized  Rousseau.  He  devoted  his 
attention  to  getting  the  Convention  to  give  offi- 
cial sanction  to  Rousseau's  ideas  concerning  the 
Deity.  The  Convention  at  his  instigation  for- 
mally recognized  "  the  existence  of  the  Supreme 
Being  and  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul."  On 
June  8,  a  festival  was  held  in  honor  of  the  new 
religion,  quite  as  famous,  in  its  way,  as  the  cere- 
monies connected  with  the  inauguration,  a  few 
months  before,  of  the  Worship  of  Reason.  It  was 
a  wondrous  spectacle,  staged  by  the  master  hand 
of  the  artist  David.  A  vast  amphitheater  was 
erected  in  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries.  Thither 
marched  the  members  of  the  Convention  in  sol- 
emn procession,  carrying  flowers  and  sheaves  of 
grain,  Robespierre  at  the  head,  for  he  was  presi- 
dent that  day  and  played  the  pontiff,  a  part 
which  suited  him.  He  set  fire  to  colossal  figures, 
symbolizing  Atheism  and  Vice,  and  then  floated 
forth  upon  a  long  rhapsody.  "Here,"  he  cried 


216  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

from  the  platform,  "is  the  Universe  assembled. 
O  Nature,  how  sublime,  how  exquisite,  thy 
power!  How  tyrants  will  pale  at  the  tidings  of 
our  feast!"  A  hundred  thousand  voices  chanted 
a  sacred  hymn  which  had  been  composed  for  the 
occasion  and  for  which  they  had  been  training  for 
a  week.  Robespierre  stood  the  cynosure  of  all 
eyes,  at  the  very  summit  of  ambition,  receiving 
boundless  admiration  as  he  thus  inaugurated  the 
new  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  breathed 
the  intoxicating  incense  that  arose.  Profound 
was  the  irony  of  this  scene,  the  incredible  cul- 
mination of  a  century  of  skepticism.  Some  un- 
godly persons  made  merry  over  this  mummery, 
indulging  in  indiscreet  gibes  at  "The  Incor- 
ruptible's  "  expense.  The  power  of  sarcasm  was 
not  yet  dead  in  France,  as  this  man  who  never 
smiled  now  learned. 

Two  days  later  Robespierre  caused  a  bill  to  be 
introduced  into  the  Convention  which  showed 
that  this  delicate  hand  could  brandish  daggers  as 
well  as  carry  flowers  and  shocks  of  corn.  The 
irreverent,  the  dangerous,  must  be  swept  like 
chaff  into  the  burning  pit.  This  bill,  which  be- 
came the  Law  of  22nd  Prairial,  made  the  pro- 
cedure of  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  more 
murderous  still.  The  accused  were  deprived  of 
counsel.  Witnesses  need  not  be  heard  in  cases 


THE  CONVENTION  217 

where  the  prosecutor  could  adduce  any  ma- 
terial or  "  moral "  proof.  Any  kind  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  government  was  made  punishable 
with  death.  The  question  of  guilt  was  left 
to  the  "  enlightened  conscience "  of  the  jury. 
The  jury  was  purged  of  all  members  who  were 
supposed  to  be  lukewarm  toward  Robespierre. 
The  accused  might  be  sent  before  this  packed 
and  servile  court  either  by  the  Convention,  or 
by  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  or  by  the 
Committee  of  General  Security,  or  by  the  pub- 
lic prosecutor  alone.  In  other  words,  any  life 
in  France  was  at  the  mercy  of  this  latter  offi- 
cial, Fouquier-Tinville,  a  tool  of  Robespierre. 
The  members  of  the  Convention  itself  were  no 
safer  than  others,  nor  were  the  members  of  the 
great  Committee,  if  they  incurred  the  displeasure 
of  the  dictator. 

Now  began  what  is  called  the  Great  Terror,  as 
if  to  distinguish  it  from  what  had  preceded.  In 
the  thirteen  months  which  had  preceded  the  22nd 
of  Prairial  1,200  persons  had  been  guillotined  in 
Paris.  In  the  forty-nine  days  between  that  date 
and  the  fall  of  Robespierre,  on  the  9th  of  Ther- 
midor,  1,376  were  guillotined.  On  two  days  alone, 
namely  the  7th  and  8th  of  July,  150  persons  were 
executed.  Day  after  day  the  butchery  went  on. 

It  brought  about  the  fall  of  Robespierre.    This 


2i8  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

hideous  measure  united  his  enemies,  those  who 
feared  him  because  they  stood  for  clemency,  and 
those  who  feared  him  because,  though  terror- 
ists themselves,  they  knew  that  he  had  marked 
them  for  destruction.  They  could  lose  no  more 
by  opposing  him  than  by  acquiescing,  and  if  they 
could  overthrow  him  they  would  gain  the  safety 
of  their  heads.  Thus  in  desperation  and  in  ter- 
ror was  woven  a  conspiracy — not  to  end  the  Ter- 
ror, but  to  end  Robespierre. 

The  storm  broke  on  July  27,  1794  (the  9th 
of  Thermidor).  When  Robespierre  attempted 
to  speak  in  the  Convention,  which  had  cowered 
under  him  and  at  his  demand  had  indelibly  de- 
based itself  by  passing  the  infamous  law  of 
Prairial,  he  was  shouted  down.  Cries  of  "  Down 
with  the  tyrant!"  were  heard.  Attempting  to 
arouse  the  people  in  the  galleries,  he  this  time 
met  with  no  response.  The  magic  was  gone. 
There  was  a  confused,  noisy  struggle,  lasting 
several  hours.  Robespierre's  voice  failed  him. 
"Danton's  blood  is  choking  him !"  exclaimed  one 
of  the  conspirators.  Finally  the  Convention 
voted  his  arrest  and  that  of  his  satellites,  his 
brother,  Saint-Just,  and  Couthon. 

All  was  not  yet  lost.  The  Revolutionary  Tri- 
bunal was  devoted  to  Robespierre  and,  if  tried, 
there  was  an  excellent  chance  that  he  would  be 


THE  CONVENTION  219 

acquitted.  The  Commune  likewise  was  favorable 
to  him.  It  took  the  initiative.  It  announced  an 
insurrection.  Its  agents  broke  into  his  prison, 
released  him,  and  bore  him  to  the  City  Hall. 
Thereupon  the  Convention,  hearing  of  this  act 
of  rebellion,  declared  him  and  his  associates  out- 
laws. No  trial  therefore  was  necessary.  As  soon 
as  re-arrested  he  would  be  guillotined.  Dur- 
ing the  evening  and  early  hours  of  the  night  a 
confused  attempt  to  organize  an  attack  against 
the  Convention  went  on.  But  a  little  before  mid- 
night a  drenching  storm  dispersed  his  thousands 
of  supporters  in  the  square.  Moreover  Robes- 
pierre hesitated,  lacked  the  spirit  of  decision  and 
daring.  The  whole  matter  was  ended  by  the 
Convention  sending  troops  against  the  Com- 
mune. At  two  in  the  morning  these  troops 
seized  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  arrested  Robes- 
pierre and  the  leading  members  of  the  Commune. 
Robespierre  had  been  wounded  in  the  fray,  his 
jaw  fractured  by  a  bullet. 

He  was  borne  to  the  Assembly,  which  declined 
to  receive  him.  "The  Convention  unanimously 
refused  to  let  him  be  brought  into  the  sanctuary 
of  the  law  which  he  had  so  long  polluted/'*  so  ran 
the  official  report  of  this  session.  That  day  he 
and  twenty  others  were  sent  to  the  guillotine. 
An  enormous  throng  witnessed  the  scene  and 


220  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

broke  into  wild  acclaim.  On  the  two  following 
days  eighty-three  more  executions  took  place. 

France  breathed  more  freely.  The  worst,  evi- 
dently, was  over.  In  the  succeeding  months  the 
system  of  the  terror  was  gradually  abandoned. 
This  is  what  is  called  the  Thermidorian  reaction. 
The  various  branches  of  the  terrible  machine  of 
government  were  either  destroyed  or  greatly  al- 
tered. A  milder  regime  began.  The  storm  did 
not  subside  at  once,  but  it  subsided  steadily, 
though  not  without  several  violent  shocks,  sev- 
eral attempts  on  the  part  of  the  dwindling  Jaco- 
bins to  recover  their  former  position  by  again 
letting  loose  the  street  mobs.  The  policy  of  the 
Convention  came  to  be  summed  up  in  the  cry 
"  Death  to  the  Terror  and  to  Monarchy ! "  The 
Convention  was  now  controlled  by  the  moder- 
ates, but  it  was  unanimously  republican.  Signs 
that  a  monarchical  party  was  reappearing,  de- 
manding the  restitution  of  the  Bourbons,  but  not 
of  the  Old  Regime,  prompted  the  Convention  to 
counter-measures  designed  to  strengthen  and 
perpetuate  the  Republic. 

To  accomplish  this  and  thus  prevent  the  re- 
lapse into  monarchy,  the  Convention  drew  up  a 
new  constitution,  the  third  in  six  years.  Though 
the  radicals  of  Paris  demanded  vociferously  that 
the  suspended  Constitution  of  1793  be  now  put 


THE  CONVENTION  221 

into  force,  the  Convention  refused,  rinding  it  too 
"  anarchical "  a  document.  Instead,  it  framed  the 
Constitution  of  1795  or  of  the  Year  Three.  Uni- 
versal suffrage  was  abandoned,  the  motive  being 
to  reduce  the  political  importance  of  the  Parisian 
populace.  Democracy,  established  on  August 
10,  1792,  was  replaced  by  a  suffrage  based  upon 
property.  There  was  practically  no  protest.  The 
example  of  the  American  states  was  quoted,  none 
of  which  at  that  time  admitted  universal  suf- 
frage. The  suffrage  became  practically  what  it 
had  been  under  the  monarchical  Constitution  of 
1791.  The  national  legislature  was  henceforth 
to  consist  of  two  chambers,  not  one,  as  had  its 
predecessors.  The  example  of  America  was  again 
cited.  "Nearly  all  the  constitutions  of  these 
states,"  said  one  member,  "our  seniors  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  have  divided  the  legislature  into 
two  chambers;  and  the  result  had  been  public 
tranquillity."  It  was,  however,  chiefly  the  ex- 
perience which  France  had  herself  had  with 
single-chambered  legislatures  during  the  last  few 
years  that  caused  her  to  abandon  that  form.  One 
of  the  chambers  was  to  be  called  the  Council  of 
Elders.  This  was  to  consist  of  250  members, 
who  must  be  at  least  forty  years  of  age,  and  be 
either  married  or  widowers.  The  other,  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Five  Hundred,  was  to  consist  of  mem- 


222  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

bers  of  at  least  thirty  years  of  age.  This  council 
alone  was  to  have  the  right  to  propose  laws, 
which  could,  however,  not  be  put  into  force  un- 
less accepted  by  the  Council  of  Elders. 

The  executive  power  was  to  be  exercised  by  a 
Directory,  consisting  of  five  persons,  of  at  least 
forty  years  of  age,  elected  by  the  Councils,  one 
retiring  each  year.  The  example  of  America  was 
again  recommended,  but  was  not  followed  be- 
cause the  Convention  feared  that  a  single  execu- 
tive, a  president,  might  remind  the  French  too 
sharply  of  monarchy  or  might  become  a  new 
Robespierre. 

The  Constitution  of  1795  was  eminently  the  re- 
sult of  experience,  not  of  abstract  theorizing.  It 
established  a  bourgeois  republic,  as  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1791  had  established  a  bourgeois  mon- 
archy. The  Republic  was  in  the  hands,  therefore, 
of  a  privileged  class,  property  being  the  privi- 
lege. 

But  the  Convention  either  did  not  wish  or  did 
not  dare  to  trust  the  voters  to  elect  whom  they 
might  desire  to  the  new  Councils.  Was  there  not 
danger  that  they  might  elect  monarchists  and  so 
hand  over  the  new  republican  constitution  to  its 
enemies?  Would  the  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion, who  enjoyed  power,  who  did  not  wish 
to  step  down  and  out,  and  yet  who  knew  that 


THE  CONVENTION  223 

they  were  unpopular  because  of  the  record  of  the 
Convention,  stand  any  chance  of  election  to  the 
new  legislature?  Yet  the  habit  of  power  was 
agreeable  to  them.  Would  the  Republic  be  safe? 
Was  it  not  their  first  duty  to  provide  that  it 
should  not  fall  into  hostile  hands? 

Under  the  influence  of  such  considerations  the 
Convention  passed  two  decrees,  supplementary 
to  the  constitution,  providing  that  two-thirds  of 
each  Council  should  be  chosen  from  the  present 
members  of  the  Convention. 

The  constitution  was  overwhelmingly  ap- 
proved by  the  voters,  to  whom  it  was  submitted 
for  ratification.  But  the  two  decrees  aroused 
decided  opposition.  They  were  represented  as 
a  barefaced  device  whereby  men  who  knew 
themselves  unpopular  could  keep  themselves  in 
power  for  a  while  longer.  Although  the  decrees 
were  finally  ratified,  it  was  by  much  smaller 
majorities  than  had  ratified  the  constitution.  The 
vote  of  Paris  was  overwhelmingly  against  them. 

Nor  did  Paris  remain  contented  with  casting 
a  hostile  vote.  It  proposed  to  prevent  this  con- 
summation. An  insurrection  was  organized 
against  the  Convention,  this  time  by  the  bour- 
geois and  wealthier  people,  in  reality  a  royalist 
project.  The  Convention  intrusted  its  defense  to 
Barras  as  commander-in-chief.  Barras,  who  was 


224  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

more  a  politician  than  a  general,  called  to  his  aid 
a  little  Corsican  officer  twenty-five  years  old  who, 
two  years  before,  had  helped  recover  Toulon  for 
the  Republic.  This  little  Buona-Parte,  for  this 
is  the  form  in  which  the  famous  name  appears  in 
the  official  reports  of  the  day,  was  an  artillery 
officer,  a  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  that  weapon. 
Hearing  that  there  were  forty  cannon  in  a  camp 
outside  the  city  in  danger  of  being  seized  by  the 
insurgents,  Bonaparte  sent  a  young  dare-devil 
cavalryman,  Joachim  Murat,  to  get  them.  Murat 
and  his  men  dashed  at  full  speed  through  the  city, 
drove  back  the  insurgents,  seized  the  cannon  and 
dragged  them,  always  at  full  speed,  to  the  Tui- 
leries,  which  they  reached  by  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  As  one  writer  has  said,  "Neither  the 
little  general  nor  the  superb  cavalier  dreamed 
that,  in  giving  Barras  cannon  to  be  used  against 
royalists,  each  was  winning  a  crown  for  him- 
self." 

The  cannon  were  placed  about  the  Tuileries, 
where  sat  the  Convention,  rendering  it  impreg- 
nable. Every  member  of  the  Convention  was 
given  a  rifle  and  cartridges.  On  the  I3th  of 
Vendemiaire  (October  5)  on  came  the  insurgents 
in  two  columns,  down  the  streets  on  both  sides 
of  the  Seine.  Suddenly  at  four-thirty  in  the 
afternoon  a  violent  cannonading  was  heard.  It 


THE  CONVENTION  225 

was  Bonaparte  making  his  debut.  The  Conven- 
tion was  saved  and  an  astounding  career  was  be- 
gun. This  is  what  Carlyle,  in  his  vivid  way, 
calls  "  the  whiff  of  grapeshot  which  ends  what 
we  specifically  call  the  French  Revolution,"  an 
imaginative  and  inaccurate  statement,  quite  char- 
acteristic of  this  vehement  historian.  Though 
it  did  not  end  the  Revolution,  it  did,  however, 
end  one  phase  of  it  and  inaugurated  another. 

Three  weeks  later,  on  October  26,  1795,  the 
Convention  declared  itself  dissolved.  It  had  had 
an  extraordinary  history,  only  a  few  aspects  of 
which  have  been  described  in  this  brief  account. 
In  the  three  years  of  its  existence  it  had  displayed 
prodigious  activity  along  many  lines.  Meeting 
in  the  midst  of  appalling  national  difficulties  born 
of  internal  dissension  and  foreign  war,  attacked 
by  sixty  departments  of  France  and  by  an  aston- 
ing  array  of  foreign  powers,  England,  Prussia, 
Austria,  Piedmont,  Holland,  Spain,  it  had  tri- 
umphed all  along  the  line.  Civil  war  had  been 
stamped  out  and  in  the  summer  of  1795  three 
hostile  states,  Prussia,  Holland,  and  Spain,  made 
peace  with  France  and  withdrew  from  the  war. 
France  was  actually  in  possession  of  the  Austrian 
Netherlands  and  of  the  German  provinces  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Rhine.  She  had  practically 
attained  the  so-called  natural  boundaries.  War 


226  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

still  continued  with  Austria  and  England.  That 
problem  was  passed  on  to  the  Directory. 

During  these  three  years  the  Convention  had 
proclaimed  the  Republic  in  the  classic  land  of 
monarchy,  had  voted  two  constitutions,  had  sanc- 
tioned two  forms  of  worship  and  had  finally  sep- 
arated church  and  state,  a  thing  of  extreme  diffi- 
culty in  any  European  country.  It  had  put  a 
king  to  death,  had  organized  and  endured  a  reign 
of  tyranny,  which  long  discredited  the  very  idea 
of  a  republic  among  multitudes  of  the  French, 
and  which  immeasurably  weakened  the  Republic 
by  cutting  off  so  many  men  who,  had  they  lived, 
would  have  been  its  natural  and  experienced  de- 
fenders for  a  full  generation  longer,  since  most  of 
them  were  young.  The  Republic  used  up  its  ma- 
terial recklessly,  so  that  when  the  man  arrived 
who  wished  to  end  it  and  establish  his  personal 
rule,  this  sallow  Italian  Buona-Parte,  his  task 
was  comparatively  easy,  the  opposition  being 
leaderless  or  poorly  led.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Republic  had  had  its  thrilling  victories,  its  heroes, 
and  its  martyrs,  whose  careers  and  teachings 
were  to  be  factors  in  the  history  of  France  for 
fully  a  century  to  come. 

The  Convention  had  also  worked  mightily  and 
achieved  much  in  the  avenues  of  peaceful  devel- 
opment. It  had  given  France  a  system  of 


THE  CONVENTION  227 

weights  and  measures,  more  perfect  than  the 
world  had  ever  seen,  the  metric  system,  since 
widely  adopted  by  other  countries.  It  had  laid 
the  foundations  and  done  the  preliminary  work 
for  a  codification  of  the  laws,  an  achievement 
which  Napoleon  was  to  carry  to  completion  and 
of  which  he  was  to  monopolize  the  renown.  It 
devoted  fruitful  attention  to  the  problem  of  na- 
tional education,  believing,  with  Danton,  that 
"next  to  bread,  education  is  the  first  need  of  the 
people,"  and  that  there  ought  to  be  a  national 
system,  free,  compulsory,  and  entirely  secular. 
"The  time  has  come,"  said  the  eloquent  tribune, 
to  establish  the  great  principle  which  appears  to 
be  ignored,  "  that  children  belong  to  the  Re- 
public before  they  belong  to  their  parents."  A 
great  system  of  primary  and  secondary  educa- 
tion was  elaborated,  but  it  was  not  put  into  actual 
operation,  owing  to  the  lack  of  funds.  On  the 
other  hand,  much  was  done  for  certain  special 
schools.  Among  the  invaluable  creations  of  the 
Convention  were  certain  institutions  whose  fame 
has  steadily  increased,  whose  influence  has  been 
profound,  the  Normal  School,  the  Polytechnic 
School,  the  Law  and  Medical  Schools  of  Paris, 
the  Conservatory  of  Arts  and  Crafts,  the  Na- 
tional Archives,  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre,  the 
National  Library,  and  the  Institute.  While  some 


228  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

of  these  had  their  roots  in  earlier  institutions,  all 
such  were  so  reorganized  and  amplified  and  en- 
riched as  to  make  them  practically  new.  To 
keep  the  balance  of  our  judgment  clear  we  should 
recall  these  imperishable  services  to  civilization 
rendered  by  the  same  assembly  which  is  more 
notorious  because  of  its  connection  with  the  ini- 
quitous Reign  of  Terror.  The  Republic  had  its 
glorious  trophies,  its  honorable  records,  from 
which  later  times  were  to  derive  inspiration  and 
instruction. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  DIRECTORY 

THE  Directory  lasted  from  October  27,  1795,  to 
November  19,  1799.  It  took  its  name  from  the 
form  of  the  executive  branch  of  the  Republic,  as 
determined  by  the  Constitution  of  1795.  Its  his- 
tory of  four  years  was  troubled,  uncertain,  and 
ended  in  its  violent  overthrow. 

Its  first  and  most  pressing  problem  was  the 
continued  prosecution  of  the  war.  As  already 
stated,  Prussia,  Spain,  and  Holland  had  with- 
drawn from  the  coalition  and  made  peace  with 
the  Convention.  But  England,  Austria,  Pied- 
mont, and  the  lesser  German  states  were  still  in 
arms  against  the  Republic.  The  first  duty  of  the 
Directory  was,  therefore,  to  continue  the  war 
with  them  and  to  defeat  them.  France  had  al- 
ready overrun  the  Austrian  Netherlands,  that  is, 
modern  Belgium,  and  had  declared  them  annexed 
to  France.  But  to  compel  Austria,  the  owner, 
to  recognize  this  annexation  she  must  be  beaten. 
The  Directory  therefore  proceeded  with  vigor 
to  concentrate  its  attention  upon  this  object.  As 
France  had  thrown  back  her  invaders,  the  fight- 

329 


230  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ing  was  no  longer  on  French  soil.  She  now 
became  the  invader,  and  that  long  series  of  con- 
quests of  various  European  countries  by  ag- 
gressive French  armies  began,  which  was  to  end 
only  twenty  years  later  with  the  fall  of  the  great- 
est commander  of  modern  times,  if  not  of  all  his- 
tory. The  campaign  against  Austria,  planned  by 
the  Directory,  included  two  parallel  and  aggres- 
sive movements  against  that  country — an  attack 
through  southern  Germany,  down  the  valley  of 
the  Danube,  ending,  it  was  hoped,  at  Vienna. 
This  was  the  campaign  north  of  the  Alps.  South 
of  the  Alps,  in  northern  Italy,  France  had  ene- 
mies in  Piedmont  and  again  in  Austria,  which 
had  possession  of  the  central  and  rich  part  of  the 
Po  valley,  namely,  Lombardy,  with  Milan  as  the 
capital. 

The  campaign  in  Germany  was  confided  to 
Jourdan  and  Moreau;  that  in  Italy  to  General 
Bonaparte,  who  made  of  it  a  stepping-stone  to 
fame  and  power  incomparable. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  born  at  Ajaccio  in 
Corsica  in  1769,  a  short  time  after  the  island  had 
been  sold  by  Genoa  to  France.  The  family  was 
of  Italian  origin  but  had  been  for  two  centuries 
and  a  half  resident  in  the  island.  His  father, 
Charles  Bonaparte,  was  of  the  nobility  but  was 
poor,  indolent,  pleasure-loving,  a  lawyer  by  pro- 


THE  DIRECTORY  231 

fession.  His  mother,  Laetitia  Ramolino,  was  a 
woman  of  great  beauty,  of  remarkable  will,  of  ex- 
traordinary energy.  Poorly  educated,  this 
"mother  of  kings"  was  never  able  to  speak  the 
French  language  without  ridiculous  mistakes. 
She  had  thirteen  children,  eight  of  whom  lived 
to  grow  up,  five  boys  and  three  girls.  The  father 
died  when  the  youngest,  Jerome,  was  only  three 
months  old.  Napoleon,  the  second  son,  was  edu- 
cated in  French  military  schools  at  Brienne  and 
Paris,  as  a  sort  of  charity  scholar.  He  was  very 
unhappy,  surrounded  as  he  was  by  boys  who 
looked  down  upon  him  because  he  was  poor  while 
they  were  rich,  because  his  father  was  unim- 
portant while  theirs  belonged  to  the  noblest  fam- 
ilies in  France,  because  he  spoke  French  like  the 
foreigner  he  was,  Italian  being  his  native  tongue. 
In  fact  he  was  tormented  in  all  the  ways  of  which 
schoolboys  are  past  masters.  He  became  sullen, 
taciturn,  lived  apart  by  himself,  was  unpopular 
with  his  fellows,  whom,  in  turn,  he  despised,  con- 
scious, as  he  was,  of  powers  quite  equal  to  any  of 
theirs,  of  a  spirit  quite  as  high.  His  boyish  let- 
ters home  were  remarkably  serious,  lucid,  intelli- 
gent. He  was  excellent  in  mathematics,  and  was 
fond  of  history  and  geography.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  left  the  military  school  and  became  a 
second  lieutenant  of  artillery.  One  of  his  teach- 


232  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ers  described  him  at  this  time  as  follows:  "Re- 
served and  studious,  he  prefers  study  to  amuse- 
ment of  any  kind  and  enjoys  reading  the  best 
authors;  is  diligent  in  the  study  of  the  abstract 
sciences,  caring  little  for  anything  else.  He  is 
taciturn  and  loves  solitude,  is  capricious,  haughty, 
and  excessively  self-centered.  He  talks  little  but 
is  quick  and  energetic  in  his  replies,  prompt  and 
incisive  in  repartee.  He  has  great  self-esteem,  is 
ambitious,  with  aspirations  that  will  stop  at 
nothing.  Is  worthy  of  patronage." 

Young  Bonaparte  read  the  intoxicating  litera- 
ture of  revolt  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Voltaire, 
Turgot,  particularly  Rousseau.  "Even  when  I 
had  nothing  to  do,"  he  said  later,  "I  vaguely 
thought  that  I  had  no  time  to  lose."  As  a  young 
sub-lieutenant  he  had  a  wretchedly  small  salary. 
"I  have  no  resources  here  but  work,"  he  wrote 
his  mother.  "I  sleep  very  little.  I  go  to  bed  at 
ten,  I  rise  at  four.  I  have  only  one  meal  a  day, 
at  three  o'clock."  He  read  history  extensively 
regarding  it  as  "the  torch  of  truth,  the  destroyer 
of  prejudice."  He  tried  his  hand  at  writing,  es- 
says, novels,  but  particularly  a  history  of  Cor- 
sica, for  at  this  time  his  great  ambition  was  to  be 
the  historian  of  his  native  land.  He  hated 
France  and  dreamed  of  a  war  of  inde- 
pendence for  Corsica.  He  spent  much  time  in 


THE  DIRECTORY  233 

Corsica,  securing  long  furloughs,  which,  more- 
over, he  overstayed.  As  a  consequence  he  finally 
lost  his  position  in  the  army,  which,  though 
poorly  salaried,  still  gave  him  a  living.  He  re- 
turned to  Paris  in  1792  hoping  to  regain  it,  but 
the  disturbed  state  of  affairs  was  not  propitious. 
Without  a  profession,  without  resources,  he  was 
almost  penniless.  He  ate  in  cheap  restaurants. 
He  pawned  his  watch — and,  as  an  idle  but  in- 
terested spectator,  he  witnessed  some  of  the 
famous  "days"  of  the  Revolution,  the  invasion  of 
the  Tuileries  by  the  mob  on  the  2oth  of  June, 
when  Louis  XVI  was  forced  to  wear  the  bonnet 
rouge,  the  attack  of  August  loth  when  he  was 
deposed,  the  September  Massacres.  Bonaparte's 
opinion  was  that  the  soldiers  should  have  shot 
a  few  hundred,  then  the  crowd  would  have  run.  He 
was  restored  to  his  command  in  August,  1792.  In 
1793  he  distinguished  himself  by  helping  recover 
Toulon  for  the  Republic  and  in  1795  by  defending 
the  Convention  against  the  insurrection  of  Ven- 
demiaire,  which  was  a  lucky  crisis  for  him. 

Having  conquered  a  Parisian  mob,  he  was  him- 
self conquered  by  a  woman.  He  fell  madly  in 
love  with  Josephine  Beauharnais,  a  widow  six 
years  older  than  himself,  whose  husband  had 
been  guillotined  a  few  days  before  the  fall  of 
Robespierre,  leaving  her  poor  and  with  two 


234  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

children.  Josephine  did  not  lose  her  heart,  but 
she  was  impressed,  indeed  half  terrified,  by 
the  vehemence  of  Napoleon's  passion,  the  in- 
tensity of  his  glance,  and  she  yielded  to  his  rapid, 
impetuous  courtship,  with  a  troubled  but  vivid 
sense  that  the  future  had  great  things  in  store 
for  him.  "  Do  they  "  (the  Directors)  "  think  that 
I  need  their  protection  in  order  to  rise?"  he  had 
exclaimed  to  her.  "They  will  be  glad  enough 
some  day  if  I  grant  them  mine.  My  sword  is  at 
my  side  and  with  it  I  can  go  far."  "This  pre- 
posterous assurance,"  wrote  Josephine,  "affects 
me  to  such  a  degree  that  I  can  believe  every- 
thing may  be  possible  to  this  man,  and,  with  his 
imagination,  who  can  tell  what  he  may  be 
tempted  to  undertake?" 

Two  days  before  they  were  married  Bonaparte 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of 
Italy.  His  sword  was  at  his  side.  He  now  un- 
sheathed it  and  made  some  memorable  passes. 
Two  days  after  the  marriage  he  left  his  bride  in 
Paris  and  started  for  the  front,  in  a  mingled  mood 
of  desperation  at  the  separation  and  of  exultation 
that  now  his  opportunity  had  come.  Sending 
back  passionate  love-letters  from  every  station, 
his  spirit  and  his  senses  all  on  fire,  feeling  that  he 
was  on  the  very  verge  of  achievement,  he  has- 
tened on  to  meet  the  enemy  and,  as  was  quickly 


THE  DIRECTORY  235 

evident,  "to  tear  the  very  heart  out  of  glory." 
The  wildness  of  Corsica,  his  native  land,  was  in 
his  blood,  the  land  of  fighters,  the  land  of  the 
vendetta,  of  concentrated  passion,  of  lawless 
energy,  of  bravery  beyond  compare,  concerning 
which  Rousseau  had  written  in  happy  prescience 
twenty  years  before,  "  I  have  a  presentiment  that 
this  little  island  will  some  day  astonish  Europe." 
That  day  had  come.  The  young  eagle  it  had 
nourished  was  now  preening  for  his  flight,  pre- 
pared to  astonish  the  universe. 

The  difficulties  that  confronted  Bonaparte 
were  numerous  and  notable.  One  was  his  youth 
and  another  was  that  he  was  unknown.  The 
Army  of  Italy  had  been  in  the  field  three  years. 
Its  generals  did  not  know  their  new  commander. 
Some  of  them  were  older  than  he  and  had  al- 
ready made  names  for 'themselves.  They  re- 
sented this  appointment  of  a  junior,  a  man  whose 
chief  exploit  had  been  a  street  fight  in  Paris. 
Nevertheless  when  this  slender,  round-shoul- 
dered, small,  and  sickly-looking  young  man  ap- 
peared they  saw  instantly  that  they  had  a  master. 
He  was  imperious,  laconic,  reserved  with  them. 
"  It  was  necessary,"  he  said  afterward,  "  in  order 
to  command  men  so  much  older  than  myself." 
He  was  only  five  feet  two  inches  tall,  but,  said 
Massena,  "  when  he  put  on  his  general's  hat  he 


236  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

seemed  to  have  grown  two  feet.  He  questioned 
us  on  the  position  of  our  divisions,  on  the  spirit 
and  effective  force  of  each  corps,  prescribed  the 
course  we  were  to  follow,  announced  that  he 
would  hold  an  inspection  on  the  morrow,  and  on 
the  day  following  attack  the  enemy."  Augereau, 
a  vulgar  and  famous  old  soldier,  full  of  strange 
oaths  and  proud  of  his  tall  figure,  was  abusive, 
derisive,  mutinous.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Gen- 
eral's presence  and  passed  an  uneasy  moment. 
"  He  frightened  me,"  said  Augereau,  "  his  first 
glance  crushed  me.  I  cannot  understand  it." 

It  did  not  take  these  officers  long  to  see  that 
the  young  general  meant  business  and  that  he 
knew  very  thoroughly  the  art  of  war.  His  speech 
was  rapid,  brief,  incisive.  He  gave  his  orders 
succinctly  and  clearly  and  he  let  it  be  known  that 
obedience  was  the  order  of  the  day.  The  cold 
reception  quickly  became  enthusiastic  coopera- 
tion. 

Bonaparte  won  ascendency  over  the  soldiers 
with  the  same  lightning  rapidity.  They  had  been 
long  inactive,  idling  through  meaningless 
manceuvers.  He  announced  immediate  action. 
The  response  was  instantaneous.  He  inspired 
confidence  and  he  inspired  enthusiasm.  He  took 
an  army  that  was  discouraged,  that  was  in  rags, 
even  the  officers  being  almost  without  shoes,  an 


THE  DIRECTORY  237 

army  on  half-rations.  He  issued  a  bulletin  which 
imparted  to  them  his  own  exaltation,  his  belief 
that  the  limits  of  the  possible  could  easily  be 
transcended,  that  it  is  all  a  matter  of  will.  He 
got  into  their  blood  and  they  tingled  with  impa- 
tience and  with  hope.  "There  was  so  much  of  the 
future  in  him,"  is  the  way  Marmont  described 
the  impression.  "Soldiers,"  so  ran  this  bulletin, 
"soldiers,  you  are  ill-fed  and  almost  naked;  the 
government  owes  you  much,  it  can  give  you 
nothing.  Your  patience,  the  courage  which  you 
exhibit  in  the  midst  of  these  crags,  are  worthy 
of  all  admiration;  but  they  bring  you  no  atom 
of  glory;  not  a  ray  is  reflected  upon  you.  I  will 
conduct  you  into  the  most  fertile  plains  in  the 
world.  Rich  provinces,  great  cities  will  be  in 
your  power;  there  you  will  find  honor,  glory,  and 
wealth.  Soldiers  of  Italy,  can  it  be  that  you  will 
be  lacking  in  courage  or  perseverance?" 

Ardent  images  of  a  very  mundane  and  material 
kind  rose  up  before  him  and  he  saw  to  it  that 
his  soldiers  shared  them.  By  portraying  very 
earthly  visions  of  felicity  Mahomet,  centuries  be- 
fore, had  stirred  the  Oriental  zeal  of  his  follow- 
ers to  marvelous  effort  and  achievement.  Bona- 
parte took  suggestions  from  Mahomet  on  more 
than  one  occasion  in  his  life. 

Bonaparte's   first    Italian    campaign   has    re- 


238  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

mained  in  the  eyes  of  military  men  ever  since  a 
masterpiece,  a  classic  example  of  the  art  of  war. 
It  lasted  a  year,  from  April,  1796,  to  April,  1797. 
It  may  be  summarized  in  the  words,  "  He  came, 
he  saw,  he  conquered."  He  confronted  an  allied 
Sardinian  and  Austrian  army,  and  his  forces  were 
much  inferior  in  number.  His  policy  was  there- 
fore to  see  that  his  enemies  did  not  unite,  and 
then  to  beat  each  in  turn.  His  enemies  combined 
had  70,000  men.  He  had  about  half  that  number. 
Slipping  in  between  the  Austrians  and  Sardini- 
ans he  defeated  the  former,  notably  at  Dego,  and 
drove  them  eastward.  Then  he  turned  westward 
against  the  Sardinians,  defeated  them  at  Mon- 
dovi  and  opened  the  way  to  Turin,  their  capital. 
The  Sardinians  sued  for  peace  and  agreed  that 
France  should  have  the  provinces  of  Savoy  and 
Nic'e.  One  enemy  had  thus  been  eliminated  by 
the  "rag  heroes,"  now  turned  into  "winged  vic- 
tories." Bonaparte  summarized  these  achieve- 
ments in  a  bulletin  to  his  men,  which  set  them 
vibrating.  "Soldiers,"  he  said,  "in  fifteen  days 
you  have  won  six  victories,  taken  twenty-one 
stand  of  colors,  fifty-five  pieces  of  cannon,  and 
several  fortresses,  and  conquered  the  richest  part 
of  Piedmont.  You  have  taken  1,500  prisoners  and 
killed  or  wounded  10,000  men.  .  .  .  But,  sol- 
diers, you  have  done  nothing,  since  there  remains 


THE  DIRECTORY  239 

something  for  you  to  do.  You  have  still  battles 
to  fight,  towns  to  take,  rivers  to  cross." 

Bonaparte  now  turned  his  entire  attention  to 
the  Austrians,  who  were  in  control  of  Lombardy. 
Rushing  down  the  southern  bank  of  the  Po,  he 
crossed  it  at  Piacenza.  Beaulieu,  the  Austrian 
commander,  withdrew  beyond  the  Adda  River. 
There  was  no  way  to  get  at  him  but  to  cross  the 
river  by  the  bridge  of  Lodi,  a  bridge  350  feet 
long  and  swept  on  the  other  side  by  cannon.  To 
cross  it  in  the  face  of  a  raking  fire  was  necessary 
but  was  well-nigh  impossible.  Bonaparte  ordered 
his  grenadiers  forward.  Halfway  over  they  were 
mowed  down  by  the  Austrian  fire  and  began  to 
recoil.  Bonaparte  and  other  generals  rushed  to 
the  head  of  the  columns,  risked  their  lives,  in- 
spired their  men,  and  the  result  was  that  they  got 
across  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  murderous  fire  and 
seized  the  Austrian  batteries.  "  Of  all  the  actions 
in  which  the  soldiers  under  my  command  have 
been  engaged,"  reported  Bonaparte  to  the  Di- 
rectory, "none  has  equaled  the  tremendous  pass- 
age of  the  bridge  of  Lodi." 

From  that  day  Bonaparte  was  the  idol  of  his 
soldiers.  He  had  shown  reckless  courage,  con- 
tempt of  death.  Thenceforth  they  called  him  af- 
fectionately "The  Little  Corporal."  The  Austri- 
ans retreated  to  the  farther  side  of  the  Mincio 


240  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

and  to  the  mighty  fortress  of  Mantua.  On  May 
16  Bonaparte  made  a  triumphal  entry  into  Milan. 
He  sent  a  force  to  begin  the  siege  of  Mantua. 
That  was  the  key  to  the  situation.  He  could 
not  advance  into  the  Alps  and  against  Vienna 
until  he  had  taken  it.  On  the  other  hand  if 
Austria  lost  Mantua,  she  would  lose  her  hold 
upon  Italy. 

Four  times  during  the  next  eight  months,  from 
June,  1796,  to  January,  1797,  Austria  sent  down 
armies  from  the  Alps  in  the  attempt  to  relieve 
the  beleaguered  fortress.  Each  time  they  were 
defeated,  by  the  prodigious  activity,  the  precision 
of  aim,  of  the  French  general,  who  continued  his 
policy  of  attacking  his  enemy  piecemeal,  before 
their  divisions  could  unite.  By  this  policy  his 
inferior  forces,  for  his  numbers  were  inferior  to 
the  total  of  the  opposed  army,  were  always  as  a 
matter  of  fact  so  applied  as  to  be  superior  to 
the  enemy  on  the  battlefield,  for  he  attacked  when 
the  enemy  was  divided.  It  was  youth  against  age, 
Bonaparte  being  twenty-seven,  Wurmser  and 
the  other  Austrian  generals  almost  seventy.  It 
was  new  methods  against  old,  originality  again.ct 
the  spirit  of  routine.  The  Austrians  came  down 
from  the  Alpine  passes  in  two  divisions.  Here 
was  Bonaparte's  chance,  and  wonderfully 
did  he  use  it.  In  war,  said  Moreau  to  him  two 


THE  DIRECTORY  241 

years  later,  "  the  greater  number  always  beat  the 
lesser."  ''You  are  right,"  replied  Bonaparte. 
"Whenever,  with  smaller  forces  I  was  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  army,  arranging  mine  rapidly, 
I  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  one  of. its  wings, 
tumbled  it  over,  profited  by  the  disorder  which 
always  ensued  to  attack  the  enemy  elsewhere, 
always  with  my  entire  force.  Thus  I  defeated 
him  in  detail  and  victory  was  always  the  triumph 
of  the  larger  number  over  the  smaller."  All  this 
was  accomplished  only  by  forced  marches.  "  It 
is  our  legs  that  win  his  battles,"  said  his  sol- 
diers. He  shot  his  troops  back  and  forth  like  a 
shuttle.  By  the  rapidity  of  his  movements  he 
made  up  for  his  numerical  weakness.  Of  course 
this  success  was  rendered  possible  by  the  mistake 
of  his  opponents  in  dividing  their  forces  when 
they  should  have  kept  them  united. 

Even  thus,  with  his  own  ability  and  the  mis- 
takes of  his  enemies  cooperating,  the  contest  was 
severe,  the  outcome  at  times  trembled  in  the 
balance.  Thus  at  Arcola,  the  battle  raged  for 
three  days.  Again,  as  at  Lodi,  success  depended 
upon  the  control  of  a  bridge.  Only  a  few  miles 
separated  the  two  Austrian  divisions.  If  the 
Austrians  could  hold  the  bridge,  then  their  junc- 
tion could  probably  be  completed.  Bonaparte 
seized  a  flag  and  rushed  upon  the  bridge,  accom- 


242  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

panied  by  his  staff.  The  Austrians  leveled  a 
murderous  fire  at  them.  The  columns  fell  back, 
several  officers  having  been  shot  down.  They  re- 
fused to  desert  their  general,  but  dragged  him 
with  them  by  his  arms  and  clothes.  He  fell  into 
a  morass  and  began  to  sink.  "  Forward  to  save 
the  General!"  was  the  cry  and  immediately  the 
French  fury  broke  loose,  they  drove  back  the 
Austrians  and  rescued  their  hero.  He  had,  how- 
ever, not  repeated  the  exploit  of  Lodi.  He  had 
not  crossed  the  bridge.  But  the  next  day  his 
army  was  victorious  and  the  Austrians  retreated 
once  more.  The  three  days'  battle  was  over 
(November  15-17,  1796). 

Two  months  later  a  new  Austrian  army  came 
down  from  the  Alps  for  the  relief  of  Mantua  and 
another  desperate  battle  occurred,  at  Rivoli.  On 
January  13-14,  1797,  Bonaparte  inflicted  a  crush- 
ing defeat  upon  the  Austrians,  routed  them,  and 
sent  them  spinning  back  into  the  Alps  again. 
Two  weeks  later  Mantua  surrendered.  Bona- 
parte now  marched  up  into  the  Alps,  constantly 
outgeneraling  his  brilliant  new  opponent,  the 
young  Archduke  Charles,  forcing  him  steadily 
back.  When  on  April  7  he  reached  the  little  town 
of  Leoben,  about  100  miles  from  Vienna,  Austria 
sued  for  peace.  A  memorable  and  crowded  year 
of  effort  was  thus  brought  to  a  brilliant  close, 


THE  DIRECTORY  243 

In  its  twelve  months'  march  across  northern 
Italy  the  French  had  fought  eighteen  big  bat- 
tles, and  sixty-five  smaller  ones.  '  You  have, 
besides  that,  "  said  Bonaparte  in  a  bulletin  to  the 
army,  "sent  30,000,000  from  the  public  treasury 
to  Paris,  You  have  enriched  the  Museum  of 
Paris  with  300  masterpieces  of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern Italy,  which  it  has  taken  thirty  ages  to  pro- 
duce. You  have  conquered  the  most  beautiful 
country  of  Europe.  The  French  colors  float  for 
the  first  time  upon  the  borders  of  the  Adriatic." 
In  another  proclamation  he  told  them  they  were 
forever  covered  with  glory,  that  when  they  had 
completed  their  task  and  returned  to  their  homes 
their  fellow  citizens,  when  pointing  to  them 
would  say,  "He  was  of  the  Army  of  Italy." 

Thus  rose  his  star  to  full  meridian  splendor. 
No  wonder  he  believed  in  it. 

All  through  this  Italian  campaign  Bonaparte 
acted  as  if  he  were  the  head  of  the  state,  not  its 
servant.  He  sometimes  followed  the  advice  of 
the  Directors,  more  often  he  ignored  it,  fre- 
quently he  acted  in  defiance  of  it.  Military  mat- 
ters did  not  alone  occupy  his  attention.  He  tried 
his  hand  at  political  manipulation,  with  the 
same  confidence  and  the  same  success  which  he 
had  shown  on  the  field  of  battle.  He  became 
a  creator  and  a  destroyer  of  states.  Italy  was 


244  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

not  at  that  time  a  united  country  but  was  a 
collection  of  small,  independent  states.  None  of 
these  escaped  the  transforming  touch  of  the 
young  conqueror.  He  changed  the  old  aristo- 
cratic republic  of  Genoa  into  the  Ligurian  Re- 
public, giving  it  a  constitution  similar  to  that  of 
France.  He  forced  doubtful  princes,  like  the 
Dukes  of  Parma  and  Modena,  to  submission  and 
heavy  payments.  He  forced  the  Pope  to  a  sim- 
ilar humiliation,  taking  some  of  his  states,  spar- 
ing most  of  them,  and  levying  heavy  exactions. 

His  most  notorious  act,  next  to  the  conquest 
of  the  successive  Austrian  armies,  was  the  over- 
throw, on  a  flimsy  pretext  and  with  diabolic  guile, 
of  the  famous  old  Republic  of  Venice. 

"  Once  did  she  hold  the  gorgeous  East  in  fee ; 
And  was  the  safeguard  of  the  West :  the  worth 
Of  Venice  did  not  fall  below  her  birth, 
Venice,  the  Eldest  Child  of  Liberty." 

Such  was  the  thought  that  came  to  the 
poet  Wordsworth  as  he  contemplated  this  out- 
rage, resembling  in  abysmal  immorality  the 
contemporary  partition  of  Poland  at  the  hands 
of  the  monarchs  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Rus- 
sia. At  least  this  clear,  bright,  pagan  republi- 
can general  could  have  claimed,  had  he  cared  to, 
that  he  was  no  worse  than  the  kings  of  the 


THE  DIRECTORY  245 

eighteenth  century  who  asserted  that  their  rule 
was  ordained  of  God.  Bonaparte  was  no  worse; 
he  was  also  no  better;  he  was,  moreover,  far 
more  able.  He  conquered  Venice,  one  of  the  old- 
est and  proudest  states  in  Europe,  and  held  it 
as  a  pawn  in  the  game  of  diplomacy,  to  which  he 
turned  with  eagerness  and  talent,  now  that  the 
war  was  over. 

Austria  had  agreed  in  April,  1797,  to  the  pre- 
liminary peace  of  Leoben.  The  following  sum- 
mer was  devoted  to  the  making  of  the  final  peace, 
that  of  Campo  Formio,  concluded  October  17, 
1797.  During  these  months  Bonaparte  lived  in 
state  in  the  splendid  villa  of  Montebello,  near 
Milan,  basking  in  the  dazzling  sunshine  of  his 
sudden  and  amazing  fortune.  There  he  kept 
a  veritable  court,  receiving  ambassadors,  talking 
intimately  with  artists  and  men  of  letters,  sur- 
rounded by  young  officers,  who  had  caught  the 
swift  contagion  of  his  personality  and  who  were 
advancing  with  his  advance  to  prosperity  and  re- 
nown. There,  too,  at  Montebello,  were  Josephine 
and  the  brothers  and  the  sisters  of  theyoungvictor 
and  also  his  mother,  who  kept  a  level  head  in 
prosperity  as  she  had  in  adversity — all  irradiated 
with  the  new  glamour  of  their  changed  position 
in  life.  The  young  man  who  a  few  years  before 
had  pawned  his  watch  and  had  eaten  six-cent 


246  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

dinners  in  cheap  Parisian  restaurants  now  dined 
in  public  in  the  old  manner  of  French  kings,  al- 
lowing the  curious  to  gaze  upon  him.  A  body- 
guard of  Polish  lancers  attended  whenever  he 
rode  forth. 

His  conversation  dazzled  by  its  ease  and  rich- 
ness. It  was  quoted  everywhere.  Some  of  it  was 
calculated  to  arouse  concern  in  high  quarters. 
"  What  I  have  done  so  far,"  he  said,  "  is  nothing. 
I  am  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  career  I  am  to 
run.  Do  you  imagine  that  I  have  triumphed  in 
Italy  in  order  to  advance  the  lawyers  of  the  Di- 
rectory? .  .  .  Let  the  Directory  attempt  to  de- 
prive me  of  my  command  and  they  will  see  who 
is  the  master.  The  nation  must  have  a  head 
who  is  rendered  illustrious  by  glory."  Two  years 
later  he  saw  to  it  that  she  had  such  a  head. 

The  treaty  of  Campo  Formio  initiated  the 
process  of  changing  the  map  of  Europe  which 
was  to  be  carried  on  bewilderingly  in  the  years 
to  come.  Neither  France,  champion  of  the  new 
principles  of  politics,  nor  Austria,  champion  of 
the  old,  differed  in  their  methods.  Both  bar- 
gained and  traded  as  best  they  could,  and  the 
result  was  an  agreement  that  contravened  the 
principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  of  the  rights 
of  peoples  to  determine  their  own  destinies,  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty.  For  the  agree- 


THE  DIRECTORY  247 

ment  simply  registered  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword,  was  frankly  based  on  force,  and  on  noth- 
ing else.  French  domestic  policy  had  been 
revolutionized.  French  foreign  policy  had  re- 
mained stationary. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Campo  Formio  Austria  re- 
linquished her  possessions  in  Belgium  to  France 
and  abandoned  to  her  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
agreeing  to  bring  about  a  congress  of  the  Ger- 
man states  to  effect  this  change.  Austria  also 
gave  up  her  rights  in  Lombardy  and  agreed  to 
recognize  the  new  Cisalpine  Republic  which 
Bonaparte  created  out  of  Lombardy,  the  duchies 
of  Parma  and  Modena,  and  out  of  parts  of  the 
Papal  States  and  Venetia.  In  return  for  this  the 
city,  the  islands,  and  most  of  the  mainland  of 
Venice,  were  handed  over  to  Austria,  as  were 
also  Dalmatia  and  Istria.  Austria  became  an 
Adriatic  power.  The  Adriatic  ceased  to  be  a 
Venetian  lake. 

The  French  people  were  enthusiastic  over  the 
acquisition  of  Belgium  and  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  They  were  disposed,  however,  to  be  in- 
dignant at  the  treatment  of  Venice,  the  rape  of  a 
republic  by  a  republic.  But  they  were  obliged 
to  take  the  fly  with  the  ointment  and  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  situation.  Thus  ended  the 
famous  Italian  campaign,  which  was  the  step- 


248  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

ping-stone  by  which  Napoleon  Bonaparte  started 
on  his  triumphal  way. 

He  had,  moreover,  not  only  conquered  Italy. 
He  had  plundered  her.  One  of  the  features  of 
this  campaign  had  been  that  it  had  been  based 
upon  the  principle  that  it  must  pay  for  itself  and 
yield  a  profit  in  addition,  for  the  French  treasury. 
Bonaparte  demanded  large  contributions  from 
the  princes  whom  he  conquered.  The  Duke  of 
Modena  had  to  pay  ten  million  francs,  the  re- 
public of  Genoa  fifteen,  the  Pope  twenty.  He 
levied  heavily  upon  Milan.  Not  only  did  he 
make  Italy  support  his  army  but  he  sent  large 
sums  to  the  Directory,  to  meet  the  ever-threaten- 
ing deficit. 

Not  only  that,  but  he  shamelessly  and  sys- 
tematically robbed  her  of  her  works  of  art.  This 
he  made  a  regular  feature  of  his  career  as  con- 
queror. In  this  and  later  campaigns,  whenever 
victorious,  he  had  his  agents  ransack  the  gal- 
leries and  select  the  pictures,  which  he  then  de- 
manded as  the  prize  of  war,  conduct  which 
greatly  embittered  the  victims  but  produced 
pleasurable  feelings  in  France.  The  entry  of 
the  first  art  treasures  into  Paris  created  great 
excitement.  Enormous  cars  bearing  pictures 
and  statues,  carefully  packed,  but  labeled  on  the 
outside,  rolled  through  the  streets  to  the  accom- 


THE  DIRECTORY  249 

paniment  of  martial  music,  the  waving  of  flags, 
and  shouts  of  popular  approval;  "The  Trans- 
figuration" by  Raphael;  "The  Christ"  by  Ti- 
tian; the  Apollo  Belvedere,  the  Nine  Muses,  the 
Laocoon,  the  Venus  de  Medici. 

During  his  career  Bonaparte  enriched  the  Mu- 
seum of  the  Louvre  with  over  a  hundred  and 
fifty  paintings  by  Raphael,  Rembrandt,  Rubens, 
Titian,  and  Van  Dyck,  to  mention  only  a  few 
of  the  greater  names.  After  his  fall  years  later 
many  of  these  were  returned  to  their  former 
owners.  Yet  many  remained.  The  famous 
bronze  horses  of  Venice,  of  which  the  Vene- 
tians had  robbed  Constantinople  centuries  be- 
fore, as  Constantinople  had  long  before  that 
robbed  Rome,  were  transported  to  Paris  after  the 
conquest  of  Venice  in  1797,  were  transported 
back  to  Venice  after  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon 
and  were  put  in  place  again,  there  to  remain  for 
a  full  100  years,  until  the  year  1915,  when  they 
were  removed  once  more,  this  time  by  the  Vene- 
tians themselves,  for  purposes  of  safety  against 
the  dangers  of  the  Austrian  war  of  that  year. 

After  this  swift  revelation  of  genius  in  the 
Italian  campaign  the  laureled  hero  returned  to 
Paris,  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  the  center  of 
boundless  curiosity.  He  knew,  however,  that  the 
way  to  keep  curiosity  alive  is  not  to  satisfy  it, 


250  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

for,  once  satisfied,  it  turns  to  other  objects.  Be- 
lieving that  the  Parisians,  like  the  ancient  Athe- 
nians, preferred  to  worship  gods  that  were  un- 
known, he  discreetly  kept  in  the  background,  af- 
fected simplicity  of  dress  and  demeanor,  and  won 
praises  for  his  "modesty,"  quite  ironically  mis- 
placed. Modesty  was  not  his  forte.  He  was 
studying  his  future  very  carefully,  was  analyzing 
the  situation  very  closely.  He  would  have  liked 
to  enter  the  Directory.  Once  one  of  the  five  he 
could  have  pocketed  the  other  four.  But  he  was 
only  twenty-eight  and  Directors  must  be  at  least 
forty  years  of  age.  He  did  not  wish  or  intend  to 
imitate  Cincinnatus  by  returning  with  dignity 
to  the  plow.  He  was  resolved  to  "keep  his  glory 
warm."  Perceiving  that,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  the 
pear  was  not  yet  ripe,"  he  meditated,  and  the  re- 
sult of  his  meditations  was  a  spectacular  ad- 
venture. 

After  the  Peace  of  Campo  Formio  only  one 
power  remained  at  war  with  France,  namely 
England.  But  England  was  most  formidable — 
because  of  her  wealth,  because  of  her  colonies, 
because  of  her  navy.  She  had  been  the  center  of 
the  coalition,  the  pay-mistress  of  the  other  ene- 
mies, the  constant  fomenter  of  trouble,  the  patron 
of  the  Bourbons.  "  Our  Government,"  said  Na- 
poleon at  this  time,  "must  destroy  the  English 


THE  DIRECTORY  251 

monarchy  or  it  must  expect  itself  to  be  destroyed 
by  these  active  islanders.  Let  us  concentrate 
our  energies  on  the  navy  and  annihilate  England. 
That  done,  Europe  is  at  our  feet."  The  annihila- 
tion of  England  was  to  be  the  most  constant 
subject  of  his  thought  during  his  entire  career, 
baffling  him  at  every  stage,  prompting  him  to 
gigantic  efforts,  ending  in  catastrophic  failure 
eighteen  years  later  at  Waterloo,  and  in  the 
forced  repinings  of  St.  Helena. 

The  Directory  now  made  Bonaparte  com- 
mander of  the  army  of  England,  and  he  began 
his  first  experiment  in  the  elusive  art  of  destroy- 
ing these  "  active  islanders."  Seeing  that  a  direct 
invasion  of  England  was  impossible  he  sought  out 
a  vulnerable  spot  which  should  at  the  same  time 
be  accessible,  and  he  hit  upon  Egypt.  Not  that 
Egypt  was  an  English  possession,  for  it  was  not. 
It  belonged  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  But  it  was 
on  the  route  to  India  and  Bonaparte,  like  many 
of  his  contemporaries,  considered  that  England 
drew  her  strength,  not  from  English  mines  and 
factories,  from  English  brains  and  characters,  but 
from  the  fabulous  wealth  of  India.  Once  cut  that 
nerve  and  the  mighty  colossus  would  reel  and 
fall.  England  was  not  an  island ;  she  was  a  world- 
empire.  As  such  she  stood  in  the  way  of  all  other 
would-be  world-empires,  then  as  now.  The 


252  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

year  1914  saw  no  new  arguments  put  forth  by 
her  enemies  in  regard  to  England  that  were 
not  freely  uttered  in  1797.  Bonaparte  denounced 
this  "  tyrant  of  the  seas  "  quite  in  our  latter-day 
style.  If  there  must  be  tyranny  it  was  intoler- 
able that  it  should  be  exercised  by  others.  He 
now  received  the  ready  sanction  of  the  Directors 
to  his  plan  for  the  conquest  of  Egypt.  Once  con- 
quered, Egypt  would  serve  as  a  basis  of  opera- 
tions for  an  expedition  to  India  which  would 
come  in  time.  The  Directors  were  glad  to  get 
him  so  far  away  from  Paris,  where  his  popularity 
was  burdensome,  was,  indeed,  a  constant  menace. 
The  plan  itself,  also,  was  quite  in  the  traditions 
of  the  French  foreign  office.  Moreover  the  po- 
tent fascination  of  the  Orient  for  all  imaginative 
minds,  as  offering  an  inviting,  mysterious  field 
for  vast  and  dazzling  action,  operated  powerfully 
upon  Bonaparte.  What  destinies  might  not  be 
carved  out  of  the  gorgeous  East,  with  its  limit- 
less horizons,  its  immeasurable,  unutilized  oppor- 
tunities? The  Orient  had  appealed  to  Alexander 
the  Great  with  irresistible  force  as  it  now  ap- 
pealed to  this  imaginative  young  Corsican,  every 
energy  of  whose  rich  and  complex  personality 
was  now  in  high  flood.  "This  little  Europe  has 
not  enough  to  offer,"  he  remarked  one  day  to  his 
schoolboy  friend,  Bourrienne.  "The  Orient  is 


THE  DIRECTORY  253 

the  place  to  go  to.  All  great  reputations  have 
been  made  there."  "  I  do  not  know  what  would 
have  happened  to  me,"  he  said  later,  "if  I  had  not 
had  the  happy  idea  of  going  to  Egypt."  He  was 
a  child  of  the  Mediterranean  and  as  a  boy  had 
drunk  in  its  legends  and  its  poetry.  As  wildly 
imaginative  as  he  was  intensely  practical,  both 
imagination  and  cool  calculation  recommended 
the  adventure. 

Once  decided  on,  preparations  were  made  with 
promptness  and  in  utter  secrecy.  On  May  19, 
1798,  Bonaparte  set  sail  from  Toulon  with  a 
fleet  of  400  slow-moving  transports  bearing 
an  army  of  38,000  men.  A  brilliant  corps 
of  young  generals  accompanied  him,  Berthier, 
Murat,  Desaix,  Marmont,  Lannes,  Kleber,  tried 
and  tested  in  Italy  the  year  before.  He  also  took 
with  him  a  traveling  library  in  which  Plutarch's 
Lives  and  Xenophon's  Anabasis  and  the  Koran 
were  a  few  of  the  significant  contents.  Fellow- 
voyagers,  also,  were  over  100  distinguished  schol- 
ars, scientists,  artists,  engineers,  for  this  expedi- 
tion was  to  be  no  mere  military  promenade,  but 
was  designed  to  widen  the  bounds  of  human 
knowledge  by  an  elaborate  study  of  the  products 
and  customs,  the  history  and  the  art  of  that  coun- 
try, famous,  yet  little  known.  This,  indeed,  was 
destined  to  be  the  most  permanent  and  valuable 


254  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

result  of  an  expedition  which  laid  the  broad  foun- 
dations of  modern  Egyptology  in  "The  Descrip- 
tion of  Egypt,"  a  monumental  work  which  pre- 
sented to  the  world  in  sumptuous  form  the  dis- 
coveries and  investigations  of  this  group  of 
learned  men. 

The  hazards  were  enormous.  Admiral  Nel- 
son with  a  powerful  English  fleet  was  in  the 
Mediterranean.  The  French  managed  to  escape 
him.  Stopping  on  the  way  to  seize  the  impor- 
tant position  of  Malta  and  to  forward  the  con- 
tents of  its  treasury  to  the  Directors,  Bonaparte 
reached  his  destination  at  the  end  of  June  and 
disembarked  in  safety.  The  nominal  ruler  of 
Egypt  was  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  but  the  real 
rulers  were  the  Mamelukes,  a  sort  of  feudal  mili- 
tary caste.  They  constituted  a  splendid  body  of 
cavalrymen,  but  they  were  no  match  for  the  in- 
vaders, as  they  lacked  infantry  and  artillery,  and 
were,  moreover,  far  inferior  in  numbers. 

Seizing  Alexandria  on  July  2  the  French  army 
began  the  march  to  Cairo.  The  difficulties  of  the 
march  were  great,  as  no  account  had  been  taken, 
in  the  preparations,  of  the  character  of  the  cli- 
mate and  the  country.  The  soldiers  wore  the 
heavy  uniforms  in  vogue  in  Europe.  In  the 
march  across  the  blazing  sands  they  experienced 
hunger,  thirst,  heat.  Many  perished  from  thirst, 


THE  DIRECTORY  255 

serious  eye  troubles  were  caused  by  the  frightful 
glare,  suicide  was  not  infrequent.  Finally,  how- 
ever, after  nearly  three  weeks  of  this  agony,  the 
Pyramids  came  in  sight,  just  outside  Cairo. 
There  Bonaparte  administered  a  smashing  de- 
feat to  the  Mamelukes,  encouraging  his  soldiers 
by  one  of  his  thrilling  phrases,  "Soldiers,  from 
the  summit  of  these  pyramids  forty  centuries 
look  down  upon  you."  The  Battle  of  the  Pyra- 
mids, July  21,  1798,  gave  the  French  control  of 
Cairo.  The  Mamelukes  were  dispersed.  They 
had  lost  2,000  men.  Bonaparte  had  lost  very  few. 

But  no  sooner  had  the  French  conquered  the 
country  than  they  became  prisoners  in  it.  For, 
on  August  i  Nelson  had  surprised  the  French 
fleet  as  it  was  lying  in  the  harbor  of  Abukir 
Bay,  east  of  Alexandria,  and  had  captured  or 
destroyed  it.  Only  two  battleships  and  a  frigate 
managed  to  escape.  This  Battle  of  the  Nile,  as 
it  was  called,  was  one  of  the  most  decisive  sea 
fights  of  this  entire  period.  It  was  Bonaparte's 
first  taste  of  British  sea  power.  It  was  not  his 
last. 

Bonaparte  received  the  news  of  this  terrible 
disaster,  which  cut  him  off  from  France  and 
cooped  him  up  in  a  hot  and  poor  country,  with 
superb  composure.  "Well!  we  must  remain  in 
this  land,  and  come  forth  great,  as  did  the  an- 


256  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

cients.  This  is  the  hour  when  characters  of  a 
superior  order  should  show  themselves."  And 
later  he  said  that  the  English  "will  perhaps  com- 
pel us  to  do  greater  things  than  we  intended." 

He  had  need  of  all  his  resources,  material  and 
moral.  Hearing  that  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  had 
declared  war  upon  him,  he  resolved  in  January, 
1799,  to  invade  Syria,  one  of  the  Sultan's  prov- 
inces, wishing  to  restore  or  reaffirm  the  confi- 
dence of  his  soldiers  by  fresh  victories  and  think- 
ing, perhaps,  of  a  march  on  India  or  on  Constan- 
tinople, taking  "  Europe  in  the  rear,"  as  he  ex- 
pressed it.  If  such  was  his  hope,  it  was  destined 
to  disappointment.  The  crossing  of  the  desert 
from  Egypt  into  Syria  was  painful  in  the  ex- 
treme, marked  by  the  horrors  of  heat  and  thirst. 
The  soldiers  marched  amid  clouds  of  sand  blown 
against  them  by  a  suffocating  wind.  They  how- 
ever seized  the  forts  of  Gaza  and  Jaffa,  and  de- 
stroyed a  Turkish  army  at  Mt.  Tabor,  near  Naza- 
reth, but  were  arrested  at  Acre,  which  they  could 
not  take  by  siege,  because  it  was  on  the  seacoast 
and  was  aided  by  the  British  fleet,  but  which  they 
partly  took  by  storm,  only  to  be  forced  finally  to 
withdraw  because  of  terrific  losses.  For  two 
months  the  struggle  for  Acre  went  on.  Plague 
broke  out,  ammunition  ran  short,  and  Bonaparte 
was  again  beaten  by  sea  power.  He  led  his  army 


THE  DIRECTORY 


257 


back  to  Cairo  in  a  memorable  march,  covering 
300  miles  in  twenty-six  days,  over  scorching 
sands  and  amidst  appalling  scenes  of  disaster  and 
desperation.  He  had  sacrificed  5,000  men,  had 
accomplished  nothing,  and  had  been  checked  for 


EGYPT  AND  SYRIA 

Scale  of  Miles 


the  first  time  in  his  career.  On  reaching  Cairo 
he  had  the  effrontery  to  act  as  if  he  had  been  tri- 
umphant, and  sent  out  lying  bulletins,  not  caring 
to  have  the  truth  known. 

A  few  weeks  later  he  did  win  a  notable  victory, 
this  time  at  Abukir,  against  a  Turkish  army  that 


258  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

had  just  disembarked.  This  he  correctly  de- 
scribed when  he  announced,  "  It  is  one  of  the  fin- 
est I  have  ever  witnessed.  Of  the  army  landed 
by  the  enemy  not  a  man  has  escaped."  Over 
10,000  Turks  lost  their  lives  in  this,  the  last  ex- 
ploit of  Bonaparte  in  Egypt.  For  now  he  re- 
solved to  return  to  France,  to  leave  the  whole 
adventure  in  other  hands,  seeing  that  it  must 
inevitably  fail,  and  to  seek  his  fortune  in  fairer 
fields.  He  had  heard  news  from  France  that 
made  him  anxious  to  return.  A  new  coalition 
had  been  formed  during  his  absence,  the  French 
had  been  driven  out  of  Italy,  France  itself  was 
threatened  with  invasion.  The  Directory  was 
discredited  and  unpopular  because  of  its  incom- 
petence and  blunders.  Bonaparte  did  not  dare  in- 
form his  soldiers,  who  had  endured  so  much,  of 
his  plan.  He  did  not  even  dare  to  tell  Kleber,  to 
whom  he  entrusted  the  command  of  the  army 
by  a  letter  which  reached  the  latter  too  late  for 
him  to  protest.  He  set  sail  secretly  on  the  night 
of  August  21,  1799,  accompanied  by  Berthier, 
Murat,  and  five  other  officers  and  by  two  or  three 
scientists.  Kleber  was  later  assassinated  by  a 
Mohammedan  fanatic  and  the  French  army  was 
forced  to  capitulate  and  evacuate  Egypt,  in 
August,  1801.  That  ended  the  Egyptian  expedi- 
tion, 


THE  DIRECTORY  259 

It  was  no  easy  thing  to  get  back  from  Egypt 
to  France  with  the  English  scouring  the  seas  and 
the  winds  against  him.  Sometimes  the  little  sail- 
boat on  which  Bonaparte  had  taken  passage  was 
beaten  back  ten  miles  a  day.  Then  the  wind 
would  shift  at  night  and  progress  would  be  made. 
It  took  three  weeks  of  hugging  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean  before  the  narrows 
between  Africa  and  Sicily  were  reached.  These 
were  guarded  by  an  English  battleship.  But  the 
French  slipped  through  at  night,  lights  out. 
Reaching  Corsica  they  stopped  several  days,  the 
winds  dead  against  them.  It  seemed  as  if  every 
one  on  the  island  claimed  relationship  with  their 
fellow  citizen  who  had  been  rendered  "illustri- 
ous by  glory."  Bonaparte  saw  his  native  land 
for  the  last  time  in  his  life.  Finally  he  sailed  for 
France,  and  was  nearly  overhauled  by  the  Brit- 
ish, who  chased  him  to  almost  within  sight  of 
land.  The  journey  from  the  coast  to  Paris  was  a 
continuous  ovation.  The  crowds  were  such  that 
frequently  the  carriages  could  advance  but 
slowly.  Evenings  there  were  illuminations  every- 
where. When  Paris  was  reached  delirium  broke 
forth. 

He  arrived  in  the  nick  of  time,  as  was  his  wont. 
Finally  the  pear  was  ripe.  The  government  was 
in  the  last  stages  of  unpopularity  and  discredit. 


260  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Incompetent  and  corrupt,  it  was  also  unsuccess- 
ful. The  Directory  was  in  existence  for  four 
years,  from  October,  1795,  to  November,  1799. 
Its  career  was  agitated.  The  defects  of  the  con- 
stitution, the  perplexing  circumstances  of  the 
times,  the  ambitions  and  intrigues  of  individuals, 
seeking  personal  advantage  and  recking  little  of 
the  state,  had  strained  the  institutions  of  the 
country  almost  to  the  breaking  point,  and  had 
created  a  widespread  feeling  of  weariness  and 
disgust.  Friction  had  been  constant  between 
the  Directors  and  the  legislature,  and  on  two  oc- 
casions the  former  had  laid  violent  hands  upon 
the  latter,  once  arresting  a  group  of  royalist  depu- 
ties and  annulling  their  election,  once  doing  the 
same  to  a  group  of  radical  republicans.  They  had 
thus  made  sport  of  the  constitution  and  destroyed 
the  rights  of  the  voters.  Their  foreign  policy, 
after  Bonaparte  had  sailed  for  Egypt,  had  been 
so  aggressive  and  blundering  that  a  new  coalition 
had  been  formed  against  France,  consisting  of 
England,  Austria,  and  Russia,  which  country 
now  abandoned  its  eastern  isolation  and  entered 
upon  a  period  of  active  participation  in  the  affairs 
of  western  Europe.  The  coalition  was  success- 
ful, the  French  were  driven  out  of  Germany 
back  upon  the  Rhine,  out  of  Italy,  and  the  inva- 
sion of  France  was,  perhaps,  impending.  The  do- 


THE  DIRECTORY  261 

mestic  policy  of  the  Directors  had  also  resulted 
in  fanning  once  more  the  embers  of  religious  war 
in  Vendee. 

In  these  troubled  waters  Bonaparte  began 
forthwith  to  fish.  He  established  connections 
with  a  group  of  politicians  who  for  one  reason 
and  another  considered  a  revision  of  the  consti- 
tution desirable  and  necessary.  The  leader  of  the 
group  was  Sieyes,  a  man  who  plumed  himself  on 
having  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  art  and 
theory  of  government  and  who  now  wished  to 
endow  France  with  the  perfect  institutions  of 
which  he  carried  the  secret  in  his  brain.  Sieyes 
was  a  man  of  Olympian  conceit,  of  oracular  ut- 
terances, a  coiner  of  telling  phrases,  enjoying  an 
immoderate  reputation  as  a  constitution-maker. 
His  phrase  was  now  that  to  accomplish  the  de- 
sired change  he  needed  "a  sword."  He  would 
furnish  the  pen  himself.  The  event  was  to  prove, 
contrary  to  all  proverbs,  that  the  pen  is  weaker 
than  the  sword,  at  least  when  the  latter  belongs 
to  a  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Bonaparte,  who  really 
despised  "this  cunning  priest,"  as  he  called  him, 
was  nevertheless  quite  willing  to  use  him  as  a 
stepping-stone.  Heaping  flatteries  upon  him  he 
said:  "We  have  no  government,  because  we 
have  no  constitution ;  at  least  not  the  one  we  need. 
It  is  for  your  genius  to  give  us  one." 


262  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

The  plan  these  and  other  conspirators  worked 
out  was  to  force  the  Directors  to  resign,  willy- 
nilly,  thus  leaving  France  without  an  executive, 
a  situation  that  could  not  possibly  be  permitted 
to  continue;  then  to  get  the  Council  of  Elders 
and  the  Council  of  the  Five  Hundred  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  revise  the  constitution.  Natur- 
ally Sieyes  and  Bonaparte  were  to  be  on  that 
committee,  if  all  went  well.  Then  let  wisdom 
have  her  sway.  The  conspirators  had  two  of 
the  Directors  on  their  side  and  a  majority  of  the 
Elders,  and  fortunately  the  President  of  the 
Council  of  Five  Hundred  was  a  brother  of  Na- 
poleon, Lucien  Bonaparte,  a  shallow  but  cool- 
headed  rhetorician,  to  whom  the  honors  of  the 
critical  day  were  destined  to  be  due. 

Thus  was  plotted  in  the  dark  the  coup  d'etat 
of  Brumaire  which  landed  Napoleon  in  the  sad- 
dle, made  him  ruler  of  a  great  state,  and  opened 
a  new  and  prodigious  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Europe.  There  is  no  English  word  for  coup 
d'etat,  as  fortunately  the  thing  described  is  alien 
to  the  history  of  English-speaking  peoples.  It 
is  the  seizure  of  the  state,  of  power,  by  force  and 
ruse,  the  overthrow  of  the  form  of  government 
by  violence,  by  arms.  There  had  been  coups 
d'etat  before  in  France.  There  were  to  be  others 
later,  in  the  nineteenth  century.  But  the  coup 


THE  DIRECTORY  263 

d'etat  of  i8th  and  iQth  Brumaire  (November  9 
and  10,  1799)  is  the  most  classical  example  of 
this  device,  the  most  successful,  the  most  mo- 
mentous in  its  consequences. 

But  how  to  set  the  artful  scheme  in  motion? 
There  was  the  danger  that  the  deputies  of  the 
Five  Hundred  might  block  the  way,  danger  of  a 
popular  insurrection  in  Paris  of  the  old  familiar 
kind,  if  the  rumor  got  abroad  that  the  Republic 
was  in  peril.  The  conspirators  must  step  warily. 
They  did  so — and  they  nearly  failed — and  had 
they  failed,  their  fate  would  have  been  that  of 
Robespierre. 

A  charge  was  trumped  up,  for  which  no  evi- 
dence was  given,  that  a  plot  was  being  concerted 
against  the  Republic.  Not  an  instant  must  be 
lost,  if  the  state  was  to  be  saved.  The  Council 
of  Elders,  informed  of  this,  and  already  won  over 
to  the  conspiracy,  thereupon  voted,  upon  the  i8th 
of  Brumaire,  that  both  Councils  should  meet  the 
following  day  at  St.  Cloud,  several  miles  from 
Paris,  and  that  General  Bonaparte  should  take 
command  of  the  troops  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting them. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  the  two  Councils  met 
in  the  palace  of  St.  Cloud.  Delay  occurring  in 
arranging  the  halls  for  the  extraordinary  meet- 
ing, the  suspicious  legislators  had  time  to  confer, 


264  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

to  concert  opposition.  The  Elders,  when  their 
session  finally  began  at  two  o'clock,  demanded 
details  concerning  the  pretended  plot.  Bona- 
parte entered  and  made  a  wild  and  incoherent 
speech.  They  were  "  standing  on  a  volcano,"  he 
told  them.  He  was  no  "  Caesar  "  or  "  Cromwell " 
intent  upon  destroying  the  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try. "General,  you  no  longer  know  what  you 
are  saying,"  whispered  Bourrienne,  urging  him 
to  leave  the  chamber,  which  he  immediately  did. 

This  was  a  bad  beginning;  but  worse  was  yet 
to  come.  Bonaparte  went  to  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred,  accompanied  by  four  grenadiers.  He 
was  greeted  with  a  perfect  storm  of  wrath.  Cries 
of  "Outlaw  him,  outlaw  him!"  "Down  with 
the  Dictator,  down  with  the  tyrant ! "  rent  the  air. 
Pandemonium  reigned.  He  received  blows,  was 
pushed  and  jostled,  and  was  finally  dragged 
fainting  from  the  hall  by  the  grenadiers,  his  coat 
torn,  his  face  bleeding.  Outside  he  mounted  his 
horse  in  the  courtyard,  before  the  soldiers. 

It  was  Lucien  who  saved  this  badly  bungled 
day.  Refusing  to  put  the  motion  to  outlaw  his 
brother,  he  left  the  chair,  made  his  way  to  the 
courtyard,  mounted  a  horse  and  harangued  the 
soldiers,  telling  them  that  a  band  of  assassins 
was  terrorizing  the  Assembly,  that  his  life  and 
that  of  Napoleon  were  no  longer  safe,  and  de- 


THE  DIRECTORY  265 

manding,  as  President  of  the  Five  Hundred,  that 
the  soldiers  enter  the  hall  and  clear  out  the 
brigands  and  free  the  Council.  The  soldiers 
hesitated.  Then  Lucien  seized  Napoleon's 
sword,  pointed  it  at  his  brother's  breast,  and 
swore  to  kill  him  if  he  should  ever  lay  violent 
hands  on  the  Republic.  The  lie  and  the  melo- 
drama worked.  The  soldiers  entered  the  hall, 
led  by  Murat.  The  legislators  escaped  through 
the  windows. 

That  evening  groups  of  Elders  and  of  the  Five 
Hundred  who  favored  the  conspirators  met, 
voted  the  abolition  of  the  Directory,  and  ap- 
pointed three  Consuls,  Sieyes,  Ducos,  and  General 
Bonaparte,  to  take  their  place.  They  then  ad- 
journed for  four  months,  appointing,  as  their 
final  act,  committees  to  cooperate  with  the  Con- 
suls in  the  preparation  of  a  new  constitution, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  changed  conditions. 

The  three  Consuls  promised  "fidelity  to  the 
Republic,  one  and  indivisible,  to  liberty,  equality, 
and  the  representative  system  of  government." 
At  six  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  every  one 
went  back  to  Paris.  The  grenadiers  returned  to 
their  garrison  singing  revolutionary  songs  and 
thinking  most  sincerely  that  they  had  saved  the 
Republic  and  the  Revolution.  No  outbreak  oc- 
curred in  Paris.  The  coup  d'etat  was  popular. 


266  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Government  bonds  rose  rapidly,  nearly  doubling 
in  a  week. 

Such  was  the  Little  Corporal's  rise  to  civil 
power.  It  was  fortunate,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
not  all  the  ability  of  his  remarkable  family  was 
monopolized  by  himself.  Lucien  had  his  particu- 
lar share,  a  distinct  advantage  to  his  kith  and  kin. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  CONSULATE 

THUS  the  famous  young  warrior  had  clutched  at 
power  and  was  not  soon  to  let  it  slip.  It  had  been 
a  narrow  escape.  Fate  had  trembled  dangerously 
in  the  balance  on  that  gray  November  Sunday 
afternoon,  but  the  gambler  had  won.  His  thin, 
sallow  face,  his  sharp,  metallic  voice,  his  abrupt, 
imperious  gesture,  his  glance  that  cowed  and 
terrified,  his  long  disordered  hair,  his  delicate 
hands,  became  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  times, 
manifesting  the  intensely  vivid  impression  which 
he  had  made  upon  his  age  and  was  to  deepen.  He 
was  to  etch  the  impress  of  his  amazing  person- 
ality with  deep,  precise,  bold  strokes  upon  the 
institutions  and  the  life  of  France. 

He  was,  in  reality,  a  flinty  young  despot  with 
a  pronounced  taste  for  military  glory.  "I  love 
power,"  he  said  later,  "as  a  musician  loves  his 
violin.  I  love  it  as  an  artist."  He  was  now  in  a 
position  to  indulge  his  taste. 

Pending  a  wider  and  a  higher  flight,  there  were 
two  tasks  that  called  for  the  immediate  attention 

of  the  three  Consuls,  who  now  took  the  place  for- 

267 


268  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

merly  occupied  by  the  five  Directors.  A  new 
constitution  must  be  made,  and  the  war  against 
the  coalition  must  be  carried  on. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Year  VIII  (1799),  the 
fourth  since  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution, 
hastily  composed  and  put  into  force  a  month 
after  the  coup  d'etat,  was  in  its  essentials  the 
work  of  Bonaparte  and  was  designed  to  place 
supreme  power  in  his  hands.  This  had  not  been 
at  all  the  purpose  of  Sieyes  or  of  the  committees 
appointed  to  draft  the  document.  But  Sieyes' 
plan,  which  had  not  been  carefully  worked  out 
but  was  confused  and  uncertain  in  many  particu- 
lars, encountered  the  abrupt  disdain  of  Bona- 
parte. There  was  to  be  a  Grand  Elector  with  a 
palace  at  Versailles  and  an  income  of  six  million 
francs  a  year.  This  was  the  place  evidently  in- 
tended for  Bonaparte,  who  immediately  killed  it 
with  the  statement  that  he  had  no  desire  to  be 
merely  "  a  fatted  pig."  Impatient  with  this 
scheme  and  with  others  suggested  by  the  com- 
mittees, Bonaparte  practically  dictated  the  con- 
stitution, using,  to  be  sure,  such  of  the  sugges- 
tions made  by  the  others  as  seemed  to  him  good 
or  harmless.  The  result  was  the  organization  of 
that  phase  of  the  history  of  the  Republic  which 
is  called  the  Consulate  and  which  lasted  from 
1799  to  1804. 


THE  CONSULATE  269 

The  executive  power  was  vested  in  three  Con- 
suls who  were  to  be  elected  for  ten  years  and  to 
be  reeligible.  They  were  to  be  elected  by  the 
Senate,  but,  to  get  the  system  started,  the  consti- 
tution indicated  who  they  should  be — Bonaparte, 
First  Consul;  Cambaceres,  the  second,  and  Le- 
brun,  the  third.  Practically  all  the  powers  were 
to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  First  Consul,  the  ap- 
pointment of  ministers,  ambassadors,  officers  of 
the  army  and  navy,  and  numberless  civil  officials, 
including  judges,  the  right  to  make  war  and 
peace,  and  treaties,  subject  to  the  sanction  of 
the  Legislature. 

The  First  Consul  was  also  to  have  the  initia- 
tive in  all  legislation.  Bills  were  to  be  prepared 
by  a  Council  of  State,  were  then  to  be  submitted 
to  a  body  called  the  Tribunate,  which  was  to  have 
the  right  to  discuss  them  but  not  to  vote  them. 
Then  they  were  to  go  to  the  Legislative  Body, 
which  was  to  have  the  power  to  vote  them  but 
not  discuss  them.  Moreover  this  "assembly  of 
300  mutes"  must  discharge  its  single  function 
of  voting  in  secret.  There  was  also  to  be  a  fourth 
body,  higher  than  the  others — the  Senate,  which 
was  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  constitution  and 
was  also  to  be  an  electing  body,  choosing  the 
Consuls,  the  members  of  the  Tribunate  and  the 
Legislature  from  certain  lists,  prepared  in  a  cum- 


270  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

bersome  and  elaborate  way,  and  pretending  to 
safeguard  the  right  of  the  voters,  for  the  suf- 
frage was  declared  by  the  constitution  to  be  uni- 
versal. No  time  need  be  spent  on  this  aspect  of 
the  constitution,  for  it  was  a  sham  and  a  decep- 
tion. 

All  this  elaborate  machinery  was  designed  to 
keep  up  the  fiction  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  the  great  assertion  of  the  Revolution. 
The  Republic  continued  to  exist.  The  people 
were  voters.  They  had  their  various  assemblies, 
thus  ingeniously  selected.  Practically,  however, 
and  this  is  the  matter  that  most  concerns  us, 
popular  sovereignty  was  gone,  Bonaparte  was 
sovereign.  He  had  more  extensive  executive 
powers  than  Louis  XVI  had  had  under  the  Con- 
stitution of  1791.  He  really  had  the  legislative 
power  also.  No  bill  could  be  discussed  or  voted 
that  had  not  been  first  prepared  by  his  orders. 
Once  voted  it  could  not  go  into  force  until  he  pro- 
mulgated it.  France  was  still  a  republic  in  name ; 
practically,  however,  it  was  a  monarchy,  scarcely 
veiled  at  that.  Bonaparte's  position  was  quite  as 
attractive  as  that  of  any  monarch  by  divine  right, 
except  for  the  fact  that  he  was  to  hold  it  for  a 
term  of  ten  years  only  and  had  no  power  to  be- 
queath it  to  an  heir.  He  was  to  remedy  these 
details  later. 


THE  CONSULATE  271 

Having  given  France  a  constitution,  he  secured 
the  enactment  of  a  law  which  placed  all  the  local 
government  in  his  hands.  There  was  to  be  a 
prefect  at  the  head  of  each  department,  a  sub- 
prefect  for  a  smaller  division,  a  mayor  for  every 
town  or  commune.  The  citizens  lost  the  power 
to  manage  their  own  local  affairs,  and  thus  their 
training  in  self-government  came  to  an  end.  Gov- 
ernment, national  and  local,  was  centralized  in 
Paris,  more  effectively,  even,  than  in  the  good 
old  days  of  the  Bourbons  and  their  intendants. 

Having  set  his  house  in  order,  having  gained 
a  firm  grip  on  the  reins  of  power,  Bonaparte  now 
turned  his  attention  to  the  foreign  enemies  of 
France.  The  coalition  consisted  of  England, 
Austria,  and  Russia.  England  was  difficult  to 
get  at.  The  Russians  were  dissatisfied  with  their 
allies  and  were  withdrawing  from  cooperation. 
There  remained  Austria,  the  enemy  Bonaparte 
had  met  before. 

One  Austrian  army  was  on  the  Rhine  and 
Bonaparte  sent  Moreau  to  attack  it.  Another 
was  in  northern  Italy  and  he  went  in  person  to 
attend  to  that.  While  he  had  been  in  Egypt  the 
Austrians  had  won  back  northern  Italy.  Melas, 
their  general,  had  driven  Massena  into  Genoa, 
where  the  latter  hung  on  like  grim  death,  with 
rations  that  would  soon  be  exhausted.  Bona- 


272  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

parte's  plan  was  to  get  in  between  the  Austrians 
and  their  own  country,  to  attack  them  in  the  rear, 
thus  to  force  them  to  withdraw  from  the  siege 
of  Genoa  in  order  to  keep  open  their  line  of  com- 
munication. In  the  pursuit  of  this  object  he  ac- 
complished one  of  his  most  famous  exploits,  the 
crossing  of  the  Great  Saint  Bernard  pass  over  the 
Alps,  with  an  army  of  40,000,  through  snow  and 
ice,  dragging  their  cannon  in  troughs  made  out  of 
hollowed  logs.  It  was  a  matter  of  a  week.  Once 
in  Italy  he  sought  out  the  Austrians  and  met 
them  unexpectedly  at  Marengo  (June  14,  1800). 
The  battle  came  near  being  a  defeat,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  Bonaparte  blundered  badly,  hav- 
ing divided  his  forces,  and  that  Desaix's  division 
was  miles  away.  The  battle  began  at  dawn  and 
went  disastrously  for  the  French.  At  one  o'clock 
the  Austrian  commander  rode  back  to  his  head- 
quarters, believing  that  he  had  won  and  that  the 
remaining  work  could  be  left  to  his  subordinates. 
The  French  were  pushed  back  and  their  retreat 
threatened  to  become  a  stampede.  The  day  was 
saved  by  the  appearance  of  Desaix's  division  on 
the  scene,  at  about  five  o'clock.  The  battle  was 
resumed  with  fury,  Desaix  himself  was  killed, 
but  the  soldiers  avenged  his  glorious  death  by  a 
glorious  victory.  By  seven  o'clock  the  day  of 
strange  vicissitudes  was  over.  The  Austrians 


THE  CONSULATE  273 

signed  an  armistice  abandoning  to  the  French 
all  northern  Italy  as  far  as  the  Mincio. 

Six  months  later  Moreau  won  a  decisive  vic- 
tory over  the  Austrians  in  Germany  at  Hohen- 
linden  (December  3,  1800),  thus  opening  the  road 
to  Vienna.  Austria  was  now  compelled  to  sue 
for  peace.  The  Treaty  of  Luneville  (February 
9,  1801)  was  in  the  main  a  repetition  of  the 
Treaty  of  Campo  Formio. 

As  had  been  the  case  after  Campo  Formio,  so 
now,  after  the  break-up  of  this  second  coalition, 
France  remained  at  war  with  only  one  nation, 
England.  These  two  nations  had  been  at  war 
continuously  for  eight  years.  England  had  de- 
feated the  French  navy  and  had  conquered 
many  of  the  colonies  of  France  and  of  the  allies 
or  dependencies  of  France,  that  is,  of  Holland  and 
Spain.  She  had  just  compelled  the  French  in 
Egypt,  the  army  left  there  by  Bonaparte,  to  agree 
to  evacuate  that  country.  But  her  debt  had 
grown  enormously  and  there  was  widespread 
popular  dislike  of  the  war.  A  change  in  the 
ministry  occurred,  removing  the  great  war  leader, 
William  Pitt.  England  agreed  to  discuss  the 
question  of  peace.  The  discussion  went  on  for 
five  months  and  ended  in  the  Peace  of  Amiens 
(March,  1802).  England  recognized  the  exist- 
ence of  the  French  Republic.  She  restored  all 


274  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

the  French  colonies  and  some  of  the  Dutch  and 
Spanish,  retaining  only  Ceylon  and  Trinidad. 
She  promised  to  evacuate  Malta  and  Egypt, 
which  the  French  had  seized  in  1798  and  which 
she  had  taken  from  them.  Nothing  was  said  of 
the  French  conquest  of  Belgium  and  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine.  This  was  virtually  acquiescence  in 
the  new  boundaries  of  France,  which  far  exceeded 
those  of  the  ancient  monarchy. 

Thus  Europe  was  at  peace  for  the  first  time  in 
ten  years.  Great  was  the  enthusiasm  in  both 
France  and  England. 

The  peace,  however,  was  most  unstable.  It 
lasted  just  one  year. 

Napoleon  said  on  one  occasion,  "  I  am  the  Rev- 
olution." On  another  he  said  that  he  had  "de- 
stroyed the  Revolution."  There  was  much  error 
and  some  truth  in  both  these  statements. 

The  Consulate,  and  the  Empire  which  suc- 
ceeded the  Consulate,  preserved  much  of  the  work 
of  the  Revolution  and  abolished  much,  in  con- 
formity with  the  ideas  and  also  the  personal  in- 
terests of  the  new  ruler.  Bonaparte  had  very 
definite  opinions  concerning  the  Revolution,  con- 
cerning the  French  people,  and  concerning  his 
own  ambitions.  These  opinions  constituted  the 
most  important  single  factor  in  the  life  of  France 
after  1799.  Bonaparte  sympathized  with,  or  at 


THE  CONSULATE  275 

least  tolerated,  one  of  the  ideas  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, Equality.  He  detested  the  other  leading 
idea,  Liberty.  In  his  youth  he  had  fallen  under 
the  magnetic  spell  of  Rousseau.  But  that  had 
passed  and  thenceforth  he  dismissed  Rousseau 
summarily  as  a  "madman."  He  accepted  the 
principle  of  equality  because  it  alone  made  pos- 
sible his  own  career  and  because  he  perceived  the 
hold  it  had  upon  the  minds  of  the  people.  He 
had  no  desire  to  restore  the  Bourbons  and  the 
feudal  system,  the  incarnation  of  the  principle  of 
inequality  and  privilege.  He  stood  right  athwart 
the  road  to  yesterday  in  this  respect.  It  was  he 
and  his  system  that  kept  the  Bourbons  exiles 
from  France  fifteen  years  longer,  so  long  indeed 
that  when  they  did  finally  return  it  was  largely 
without  their  baggage  of  outworn  ideas.  Bona- 
parte thus  prevented  the  restoration  of  the  Old 
Regime.  That  was  done  for,  for  good  and  all. 
Privilege,  abolished  in  1789,  remained  abolished. 
The  clergy,  nobility,  and  third  estate  had  been 
swept  away.  There  remained  only  a  vast  mass  of 
French  citizens  subject  to  the  same  laws,  paying 
the  same  taxes,  enjoying  equal  chances  in  life, 
as  far  as  the  state  was  concerned.  The  state 
showed  no  partiality,  had  no  favorites.  All 
shared  in  bearing  the  nation's  burdens  in  propor- 
tion to  their  ability.  And  no  class  levied  taxes 


276  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

upon  another — tithes  and  feudal  dues  were  not 
restored.  No  class  could  exercise  a  monopoly 
of  any  craft  or  trade — the  guilds  with  all  their 
restrictions  remained  abolished.  Moreover  all 
now  had  an  equal  chance  at  public  employment 
in  the  state  or  in  the  army. 

Bonaparte  summed  this  policy  up  in  the  phrase 
"careers  open  to  talent."  This  idea  was  not 
original  with  him,  it  was  contained  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  the  Rights  of  Man.  But  he  held  it. 
Under  him  there  were  no  artificial  barriers,  any 
one  might  rise  as  high  as  his  ability,  his  industry, 
his  service  justified,  always  on  condition  of  his 
loyalty  to  the  sovereign.  Every  avenue  was  kept 
open  to  ambition  and  energy.  Napoleon's  mar- 
shals, the  men  who  attained  the  highest  positions 
in  his  armies,  were  humbly  born — Massena  was 
the  son  of  a  saloon-keeper,  Augereau  of  a  mason, 
Ney  of  a  cooper,  and  Murat  of  a  country  inn- 
keeper. None  of  these  men  could  have  possibly 
become  a  marshal  under  the  Old  Regime,  nor 
could  Bonaparte  himself  possibly  ever  have  risen 
to  a  higher  rank  than  that  of  colonel  and  then 
only  when  well  along  in  life.  Bonaparte  did  not 
think  that  all  men  are  equal  in  natural  gifts  or 
in  social  position,  but  he  maintained  equality  be- 
fore the  law,  that  priceless  acquisition  of  the  Rev- 
olution. 


THE  CONSULATE  277 

He  did  not  believe  in  liberty  nor  did  he  be- 
lieve that,  for  that  matter,  the  French  believed 
in  it.  His  career  was  one  long  denial  or  nega- 
tion of  it.  Neither  liberty  of  speech,  nor  lib- 
erty of  the  press,  neither  intellectual  nor  po- 
litical liberty,  received  anything  from  him  but 
blows  and  infringements.  In  this  respect  his 
rule  meant  reaction  to  the  spirit  and  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Old  Regime.  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  Convention  and  the  Directory  had  also 
trampled  ruthlessly  upon  this  principle,  but  it  is 
also  quite  true  that  neither  he  nor  they  could 
successfully  defy  what  is  plainly  a  dominant  pre- 
occupation, a  deep-seated  longing  of  the  modern 
world.  For  the  last  hundred  years  the  ground 
has  been  cumbered  with  those  who  thought  they 
could  silence  this  passion  for  freedom,  and  who 
found  out,  to  their  cost  and  the  cost  of  others, 
that  their  efforts  to  imprison  the  human  spirit 
were  unavailing.  There  are  still,  after  all  these 
instructive  hundred  years,  rulers  who  share  that 
opinion  and  act  upon  it.  They  have  been  able 
to  preserve  themselves  and  their  methods  of  gov- 
ernment in  certain  countries.  But  their  day  of 
reckoning,  it  may  safely  be  prophesied,  is  coming, 
as  it  came  for  Napoleon  himself.  They  fight  for 
a  losing  cause,  as  the  history  of  the  modern  world 
shows. 


278  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

The  activities  of  Bonaparte  as  First  Consul, 
after  Marengo  and  during  the  brief  interval  of 
peace,  were  unremitting  and  far-reaching.  It 
was  then  that  he  gave  his  full  measure  as  a  civil 
ruler.  He  was  concerned  with  binding  up  the 
wounds  or  open  sores  of  the  nation,  with  deter- 
mining the  precise  form  of  the  national  institu- 
tions, with  fashioning  the  mould  through  which 
the  national  life  was  to  go  pulsing  for  a  long 
future,  with  consolidating  the  foundations  of  his 
power.  A  brief  examination  of  this  phase  of  his 
activity  is  essential  to  a  knowledge  of  the  later 
history  of  France,  and  to  our  appreciation  of  his 
own  matchless  and  varied  ability,  of  the  power  of 
sheer  intellect  and  will  applied  to  the  problems 
of  a  society  in  flux. 

First,  the  party  passions  which  had  rioted  for 
ten  years  must  be  quieted.  Bonaparte's  policy 
toward  the  factions  was  conciliation,  coupled  with 
stern  and  even  savage  repression  of  such  elements 
as  refused  to  comply  with  this  primary  require- 
ment. There  was  room  enough  in  France  for  all, 
but  on  one  condition,  that  all  accept  the  present 
rulers  and  acquiesce  in  the  existing  institutions 
and  laws  of  the  land.  Offices  would  be  open 
freely  to  former  royalists,  Jacobins,  Girondists,  on 
equal  terms,  no  questions  asked  save  that  of  loy- 
alty. As  a  matter  of  fact  Bonaparte  exercised  his 


THE  CONSULATE  279 

vast  appointing  power  in  this  sense  for  the  pur- 
pose of  effacing  all  distinctions,  all  unhappy  re- 
minders of  a  troubled  past.  The  laws  against  the 
emigres  and  the  recalcitrant  priests  were  relaxed. 
Of  over  100,000  emigrants,  all  but  about  1,000 
irreconcilables  received,  by  successive  decrees, 
the  legal  right  to  return  and  to  recover  their  es- 
tates, if  these  had  not  been  already  sold.  Only 
those  who  placed  their  devotion  to  the  House  of 
Bourbon  above  all  other  considerations  found  the 
door  resolutely  closed. 

Bonaparte  soon  perceived  that  the  strength  of 
the  Bourbon  cause  lay  not  in  the  merits  or  talents 
of  the  royal  family  itself  or  its  aristocratic  sup- 
porters, but  in  its  close  identification  with  the 
authorities  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Through  all  the  angry  religious  warfare  of  the 
Revolution  the  mass  of  the  people  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  priests  and  the  priests  were  sub- 
ject to  the  bishops.  The  bishops  had  refused  to 
accept  the  various  laws  of  the  Revolution  con- 
cerning them  and  had  as  a  consequence  been 
driven  from  the  country.  They  were  living  mostly 
in  England  and  in  Germany,  taking  their  cue 
from  the  Pope,  who  recognized  Louis  XVIII, 
brother  of  Louis  XVI,  as  the  legitimate  ruler  of 
France. 

Thus  the  religious  dissension  was  fused  with 


280  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

political  opposition — royalists  and  bishops  were 
in  the  same  galley.  Bonaparte  determined  to  sever 
this  connection,  thus  leaving  the  extreme  royal- 
ists high  and  dry,  a  staff  of  officers  without  an 
army.  No  sooner  had  he  returned  from  Marengo 
than  he  took  measures  to  show  the  Catholics  that 
they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  him,  that  they 
could  enjoy  their  religion  undisturbed  if  they  did 
not  use  their  liberty,  under  cover  of  religion,  to 
plot  against  him  and  against  the  Revolutionary 
settlement.  He  was  in  all  this  not  actuated  by 
any  religious  sentiment  himself,  but  by  a  purely 
political  sentiment — he  was  himself,  as  he  said, 
"Mohammedan  in  Egypt,  Catholic  in  France," 
not  because  he  considered  that  either  was  in  the 
exclusive  or  authentic  possession  of  the  truth,  but 
because  he  was  a  man  of  sense  who  saw  the  fu- 
tility of  trying  to  dragoon  by  force  men  who  were 
religious  into  any  other  camp  than  the  one  to 
which  they  naturally  belonged.  Bonaparte  also 
saw  that  religion  was  an  instrument  which  he 
might  much  better  have  on  his  side  than  allow  to 
be  on  the  side  of  his  enemies.  He  looked  on  re- 
ligion as  a  force  in  politics,  nothing  else.  Purely 
political,  not  spiritual,  considerations  determined 
his  policy  in  now  concluding  with  the  Pope  the 
famous  treaty  or  Concordat,  which  reversed 
much  of  the  work  of  the  Revolutionary  assem- 


THE  CONSULATE  281 

blies,  and  determined  the  relations  of  church  and 
state  in  France  for  the  whole  nineteenth  century. 
This  important  piece  of  legislation  of  the  year 
1802  lasted  103  years,  being  abrogated  only  under 
the  present  republic,  in  1905. 

Bonaparte's  thought  was  that  by  restoring 
the  Catholic  Church  to  something  like  its  former 
primacy  he  would  weaken  the  royalists.  The 
people  must  have  a  religion,  he  said,  but  the  re- 
ligion must  be  in  the  hands  of  the  government. 
Many  of  his  adherents  did  not  agree  at  all  with 
him  in  this  attitude.  They  thought  it  far  wiser 
to  keep  church  and  state  divorced  as  they  had 
been  by  the  latest  legislation  of  the  Revolution. 
Bonaparte  discussed  the  matter  with  the  famous 
philosopher  Volney,  whom  he  had  just  appointed 
a  senator,  saying  to  him,  "France  desires  a  re- 
ligion." Volney  replied  that  France  also  desired 
the  Bourbons.  At  this  Bonaparte  assaulted  the 
philosopher  and  gave  him  such  a  kick  that  he  fell 
and  lost  consciousness.  The  army  officers  who 
were  anti-clerical  were  bitter  in  their  opposition 
and  jibes,  but  Bonaparte  went  resolutely  ahead. 
He  knew  the  influence  that  priests  exercise  over 
their  flocks  and  he  intended  that  they  should  ex- 
ercise it  in  his  behalf.  He  meant  to  control  them 
as  he  controlled  the  army  and  the  thousands  of 
state  officials.  The  control  of  religion  ought  to 


282  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

be  vested  in  the  ruler.  "  It  is  impossible  'to  gov- 
ern without  it,"  he  said.  He  therefore  turned  to 
the  Pope  and  made  the  treaty.  "  If  the  Pope  had 
not  existed,"  he  said,  "  I  should  have  had  to  create 
him  for  this  occasion." 

By  the  Concordat  the  Catholic  religion  was 
recognized  by  the  Republic  to  be  that  "of  the 
great  majority  of  the  French  people"  and  its 
free  exercise  was  permitted.  The  Pope  agreed 
to  a  reorganization  involving  a  diminution  in  the 
number  of  bishoprics.  He  also  recognized  the 
sale  of  the  church  property  effected  by  the  Revo- 
lution. Henceforth  the  bishops  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  First  Consul  but  were  to  be  actu- 
ally invested  by  the  Pope.  The  bishops  in  turn 
were  to  appoint  the  priests,  with  the  consent  of 
the  government.  The  bishops  must  take  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  head  of  the  state.  Both  bishops 
and  priests  were  to  receive  salaries  from  the  state. 
They  really  became  state  officials. 

The  Concordat  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the 
mass  of  the  population  for  two  reasons — it  gave 
them  back  the  normal  exercise  of  the  religion  in 
which  they  believed,  and  it  confirmed  their  titles 
to  the  lands  of  the  church  which  they  had  bought 
during  the  Revolution,  titles  which  the  church 
now  recognized  as  legal.  The  church  soon  found 
that  Bonaparte  regarded  it  as  merely  another 


THE  CONSULATE  283 

source  of  influence,  an  instrument  of  rule.  The 
clergy  now  became  his  supporters  and  in  large 
measure  abandoned  royalism.  Moreover  Bona- 
parte, by  additional  regulations  to  which  he  did 
not  ask  the  Pope's  assent,  bound  the  clergy  hand 
and  foot  to  his  own  chariot. 

The  Concordat  was  nevertheless  a  mistake. 
France  had  worked  out  a  policy  of  entire  separa- 
tion of  church  and  state  which,  had  it  been  al- 
lowed to  continue,  would  have  brought  the  bless- 
ing of  toleration  into  the  habits  of  the  country. 
But  the  Concordat  cut  this  promising  develop- 
ment short  and  by  tying  church  and  state  to- 
gether in  a  union  which  each  shortly  found  dis- 
agreeable it  left  to  the  entire  nineteenth  century 
an  irritating  and  a  dangerous  problem.  Nor  did 
it  preserve,  for  long,  happy  relations  between 
Napoleon  and  the  Pope.  Not  many  years  later 
a  quarrel  arose  between  them  which  grew  and 
grew  until  the  Pope  excommunicated  Napoleon 
and  Napoleon  seized  the  Pope  and  kept  him  pris- 
oner. Napoleon  himself  came  to  consider  the 
Concordat  as  the  worst  blunder  in  his  career. 
However,  its  immediate  advantages  were  con- 
siderable. 

"  My  real  glory,"  said  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena, 
"is  not  my  having  won  forty  battles.  What  will 
never  be  effaced,  what  will  endure  forever,  is  my 


284  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Civil  Code."  He  was  undoubtedly  mistaken  as 
to  the  durability  of  this  achievement,  but  he  was 
correct  in  placing  it  higher  than  that  activity 
which  occupied  far  more  of  his  time.  The  famous 
Code  Napoleon  was  an  orderly,  systematic,  com- 
pact statement  of  the  laws  of  France.  Pre-revo- 
lutionary  France  had  been  governed  by  a  per- 
plexing number  of  systems  of  law  of  different 
historical  origins.  Then  had  come,  with  the 
Revolution,  a  flood  of  new  legislation,  inspired 
by  different  principles  and  greatly  increasing  the 
sum-total  of  laws  in  force.  It  was  desirable  to 
sift  and  harmonize  all  these  statutes,  and  to  pre- 
sent to  the  people  of  France  a  body  of  law,  clear, 
rational,  and  logically  arranged,  so  that  hence- 
forth all  the  doubt,  uncertainty,  and  confusion 
which  had  hitherto  characterized  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  might  be  avoided  and  every 
Frenchman  might  easily  know  what  his  legal 
rights  and  relations  were,  with  reference  to 
the  state  and  his  fellow-citizens.  The  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  the  Convention,  the  Direc- 
tory, had  all  appreciated  the  need  of  this  codifi- 
cation and  had  had  committees  at  work  upon 
it,  but  the  work  had  been  uncompleted.  Bona- 
parte now  lent  the  driving  force  of  his  personality 
to  the  accomplishment  of  this  task,  and  in  a  com- 
paratively brief  time  the  lawyers  and  the  Coun- 


THE  CONSULATE  285 

cil  of  State  to  whom  he  intrusted  the  work  had  it 
finished.  The  code  to  which  Napoleon  attached 
his  name  preserved  the  principle  of  civil  equality 
established  by  the  Revolution.  It  was  immedi- 
ately put  into  force  in  France  and  was  later  intro- 
duced into  countries  conquered  or  influenced  by 
France,  Belgium,  the  German  territories  west 
of  the  Rhine,  and  Italy. 

Bonaparte's  own  direct  share  in  this  monu- 
mental work  was  considerable  and  significant. 
Though  no  lawyer  himself,  and  with  little  techni- 
cal knowledge  of  law,  his  marvelous  intellectual 
ability,  the  precision,  penetration,  and  pertinence 
of  many  of  his  criticisms,  suggestions,  questions, 
gave  color  and  tone  and  character  to  the  com- 
pleted work.  He  presided  over  many  of  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Council  of  State  devoted  to  the  elab- 
oration of  this  code.  "  He  spoke/'  says  a  witness, 
"without  embarrassment  and  without  pretension. 
He  was  never  inferior  to  any  member  of  the 
Council;  he  often  equaled  the  ablest  of  them  by 
the  ease  with  which  he  seized  the  point  of  a  ques- 
tion, by  the  justness  of  his  ideas  and  the  force  of 
his  reasoning;  he  often  surprised  them  by  the 
turn  of  his  phrases  and  the  originality  of  his  ex- 
pression." Called  a  new  Constantine  by  the 
clergy  for  having  made  the  Concordat,  Bonaparte 
was  considered  by  the  lawyers  a  new  Justinian. 


286  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

He  was  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  many  respects,  the 
superior  of  both. 

During  these  years  of  the  Consulate  Bonaparte 
achieved  many  other  things  than  those  which 
have  been  mentioned.  He  improved  the  system 
of  taxation  greatly,  and  brought  order  into  the 
national  finances.  He  founded  the  Bank  of 
France,  which  still  exists — and  another  institu- 
tion which  has  come  down  to  our  own  day,  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  for  the  distribution  of  honors 
and  emoluments  to  those  who  rendered  distin- 
guished service  to  the  state.  Opposed  as  un-dem- 
ocratic,  as  offensive  to  the  principle  of  equality, 
it  was  nevertheless  instituted.  Though  open  to 
those  who  had  rendered  civil  service  as  well  as 
to  those  who  had  rendered  military,  as  a  matter 
of  fact  Napoleon  conferred  only  1,400  crosses  out 
of  48,000  upon  civilians. 

Nor  did  this  exhaust  the  list  of  durable  achieve- 
ments of  this  crowded  period  of  the  Consulate. 
The  system  of  national  education  was  in  part 
reorganized,  and  industry  and  commerce  received 
the  interested  attention  of  the  ambitious  ruler. 
Roads  were  improved,  canals  were  cut,  ports 
were  dredged.  The  economic  development  of  the 
country  was  so  rapid  as  to  occasion  some  un- 
easiness in  England. 

Thus  was  carried  through  an  extensive  and 


THE  CONSULATE  287 

profound  renovation  of  the  national  life.  This 
period  of  the  Consulate  is  that  part  of  Bona- 
parte's career  which  was  most  useful  to  his  fel- 
low-men, most  contributory  to  the  welfare  of  his 
country.  His  work  was  not  accomplished  with- 
out risk  to  himself.  As  his  reputation  and  au- 
thority increased,  the  wrath  of  those  who  saw 
their  way  to  power  barred  by  his  formidable  per- 
son increased  also.  At  first  the  royalists  had 
looked  to  him  to  imitate  the  English  General 
Monk  who  had  used  his  position  for  the  restora- 
tion of  Charles  II.  But  Bonaparte  had  no  notion 
of  acting  any  such  graceful  and  altruistic  a  part. 
When  this  became  apparent  certain  reckless 
royalists  commenced  to  plot  against  him,  began 
considering  that  it  was  possible  to  murder  him. 
An  attack  upon  him  occurred  shortly  after  Ma- 
rengo.  Many  lives  were  lost,  but  he  escaped 
with  his  by  the  narrowest  margin. 

A  more  serious  plot  was  woven  in  London  in 
the  circle  of  the  Count  of  Artois,  younger  brother 
of  Louis  XVI.  The  principal  agents  were  Georges 
Cadoudal  and  Pichegru.  Bonaparte,  through  his 
police,  knew  of  the  plot.  He  hoped,  in  allowing 
it  to  develop,  to  get  his  hands  on  the  Count  of 
Artois.  But  the  Count  did  not  land  in  France. 
Cadoudal  and  his  accomplices  were  taken  and 
shot.  Pichegru  was  found  strangled  in  prison. 


288  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

Bonaparte  wished  to  make  an  example  of  the 
House  of  Bourbon  which  would  be  remembered. 
This  led  him  to  commit  a  monstrous  crime.  He 
ordered  the  seizure  on  German  soil  of  the  young 
Duke  d'Enghien,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  a  mem- 
ber of  a  branch  of  the  Bourbon  family.  The 
prince,  who  was  innocent  of  any  connection 
whatever  with  the  conspiracy,  was  abducted, 
brought  to  Vincennes  at  five  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  March  20,  1804,  was  sent  before 
a  court-martial  at  eleven  o'clock  and  at  half- 
past  two  in  the  night  was  taken  out  into  the 
courtyard  and  shot.  This  was  assassination  pure 
and  simple  and  it  was  Bonaparte's  own  act. 
It  has  remained  ever  since  an  odious  blot  upon 
his  name,  which  the  multitudinous  seas  cannot 
wash  out.  Its  immediate  object,  however,  was 
achieved.  The  royalists  ceased  plotting  the  mur- 
der of  the  Corsican. 

A  few  days  after  this  Bonaparte  took  another 
step  forward  in  the  consolidation  of  his  powers. 
In  1802,  after  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  had  been 
made,  he  had  astutely  contrived  to  have  his  con- 
sulate for  ten  years  transformed  into  a  consulate 
for  life,  with  the  right  to  name  his  successor. 
The  only  remaining  step  was  taken  in  1804  when 
a  servile  Senate  approved  a  new  constitution  de- 
claring him  Emperor  of  the  French,  "  this  change 


THE  CONSULATE  289 

being  demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  French 
people."  It  was  at  any  rate  agreeable  to  the 
French  people,  who  in  a  popular  vote  or  plebis- 
cite ratified  it  overwhelmingly.  Henceforth  he 
is  designated  by  his  first  name,  in  the  manner  of 
monarchs.  It  happened  to  be  a  more  musical 
and  sonorous  name  than  most  monarchs  have 
possessed. 

"I  found  the  crown  of  France  lying  on  the 
ground,"  Napoleon  once  said,  "and  I  picked  it 
up  with  my  sword,"  a  vivid  summary  of  an  im- 
portant chapter  in  his  biography. 


THE  Empire  lasted  ten  years,  from  1804  to  1814. 
It  was  a  period  of  uninterrupted  warfare  in  which 
a  long  series  of  amazing  victories  was  swallowed 
up  in  final,  overwhelming  defeat.  The  central, 
overmastering  figure  in  this  agitating  story,  dom- 
inating the  decade  so  completely  that  it  is  known 
by  his  name,  was  this  man  whose  ambition 
vaulted  so  dizzily,  only  to  o'erleap  itself.  Na- 
poleon ranks  with  Alexander,  Caesar,  Charle- 
magne, as  one  of  the  most  powerful  conquerors 
and  rulers  of  history.  It  would  be  both  inter- 
esting and  instructive  to  compare  these  four.  It 
is  by  no  means  certain  that  Napoleon  would  not 
be  considered  the  greatest  of  them  all.  Certainly 
we  have  far  more  abundant  information  concern- 
ing him  than  we  have  concerning  the  others. 

When  he  became  emperor  he  was  thirty-five 
years  old  and  was  in  the  full  possession  of  all  his 
magnificent  powers.  For  he  was  marvelously 
gifted.  His  brain  was  a  wonderful  organ,  swift 
in  its  processes,  tenacious  in  its  grip,  lucid,  pre- 
cise, tireless,  and  it  was  served  by  an  incredibly 

290 


capacious  and  accurate  memory.  "  He  never 
blundered  into  victory,"  says  Emerson,  "but  won 
his  battles  in  his  head,  before  he  won  them  on 
the  field."  All  his  intellectual  resources  were 
available  at  any  moment.  He  said  of  himself, 
"  Different  matters  are  stowed  away  in  my  brain 
as  in  a  chest  of  drawers.  When  I  wish  to  inter- 
rupt a  piece  of  work  I  close  that  drawer  and  open 
another.  None  of  them  ever  get  mixed,  never 
does  this  inconvenience  or  fatigue  me.  When  I 
feel  sleepy  I  shut  all  the  drawers  and  go  to  sleep." 
Napoleon  possessed  a  varied  and  vivid  imag- 
ination, was  always,  as  he  said,  "  living  two  years 
in  advance,"  weaving  plans  and  dreams  and  then 
considering  coolly  the  necessary  ways  and  means 
to  realize  them.  This  union  of  the  practical  and 
the  poetic,  the  realistic  and  the  imaginative,  each 
raised  to  the  highest  pitch,  was  rendered  potent 
by  a  will  that  recognized  no  obstacles,  and  by 
an  almost  superhuman  activity.  Napoleon  loved 
work,  and  no  man  in  Europe  and  few  in  all  his- 
tory have  labored  as  did  he.  "Work  is  my  ele- 
ment, for  which  I  was  born  and  fitted,"  he  said 
at  St.  Helena,  at  the  end  of  his  life.  "I  have 
known  the  limits  of  the  power  of  my  arms  and 
legs;  I  have  never  discovered  those  of  my  power 
of  work."  Working  twelve  or  sixteen  and,  if 
necessary,  twenty  hours  a  day,  rarely  spending 


292  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  at  his  meals, 
able  to  fall  asleep  at  will,  and  to  awaken  with 
his  mind  instantly  alert,  he  lost  no  time  and  drove 
his  secretaries  and  subordinates  at  full  speed.  We 
gain  some  idea  of  the  prodigious  labor  accom- 
plished by  him  when  we  consider  that  his  pub- 
lished correspondence,  comprising  23,000  pieces, 
fills  thirty-two  volumes  and  that  50,000  addi- 
tional letters  dictated  by  him  are  known  to  be  in 
existence  but  have  not  yet  been  printed.  Here 
was  no  do-nothing  king  but  the  most  industrious 
man  in  Europe.  Happy,  too,  only  in  his  work. 
The  ordinary  pleasures  of  men  he  found  tedious, 
indulging  in  them  only  when  his  position  ren- 
dered it  necessary.  He  rarely  smiled,  he  never 
laughed,  his  conversation  was  generally  a  mono- 
logue, but  brilliant,  animated,  trenchant,  rushing, 
frequently  rude  and  impertinent.  He  had  no 
scruples  and  he  had  no  manners.  He  was  ill- 
bred,  as  was  shown  in  his  relations  with  women, 
of  whom  he  had  a  low  opinion.  His  language, 
whether  Italian  or  French,  lacked  distinction, 
finish,  correctness,  but  never  lacked  saliency  or 
interest.  The  Graces  had  not  presided  over  his 
birth,  but  the  Fates  had.  He  had  a  magnificent 
talent  as  stage  manager  and  actor,  setting  the 
scenes,  playing  the  parts  consummately  in  all  the 
varied  ceremonies  in  which  he  was  necessarily 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      293 

involved,  coronation,  reviews,  diplomatic  audi- 
ences, interviews  with  other  monarchs.  His  proc- 
lamations, his  bulletins  to  his  army  were  master- 
pieces. He  could  cajole  in  the  silkiest  tones, 
could  threaten  in  the  iciest,  could  shed  tears  or 
burst  into  violence,  smashing  furniture  and  bric- 
a-brac  when  he  felt  that  such  actions  would  pro- 
duce the  effect  desired.  The  Pope,  Pius  VII,  see- 
ing him  once  in  such  a  display  of  passion,  ob- 
served, "  tragedian,"  "  comedian." 

He  had  no  friends,  he  despised  all  theorists 
like  those  who  had  sowed  the  fructifying  seeds 
of  the  Revolution  broadcast,  he  harried  all  oppo- 
nents out  of  the  country  or  into  silence,  he  made 
his  ministers  mere  hard-worked  servants,  but  he 
won  the  admiration  and  devotion  of  his  soldiers 
by  the  glamour  of  his  victories,  he  held  the  peas- 
antry in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  by  constantly 
guaranteeing  them  their  lands  and  their  civil 
equality,  the  things  which  were,  in  their  opinion, 
the  only  things  in  the  Revolution  that  counted. 
He  was  as  little  as  he  was  big.  He  would  lie 
shamelessly,  would  cheat  at  cards,  was  supersti- 
tious in  strange  ways.  He  is  a  man  of  whom 
more  evil  and  more  good  can  be  said  and  has 
been  said  than  of  many  historical  figures.  He 
cannot  be  easily  described,  and  certainly  not  in 
any  brief  compass. 


294  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

Now  that  Napoleon  was  emperor  he  proceeded 
to  organize  the  state  imperially.  Offices  with 
high-sounding,  ancient  titles  were  created  and 
filled.  There  was  a  Grand  Chamberlain,  a  Grand 
Marshal  of  the  Palace,  a  Grand  Master  of  Cere- 
monies, and  so  on.  A  court  was  created,  ex- 
pensive, and  as  gay  as  it  could  be  made  to  be 
at  a  soldier's  orders.  The  Emperor's  family,  de- 
clared Princes  of  France,  donned  new  titles  and 
prepared  for  whatever  honors  and  emoluments 
might  flow  from  the  bubbling  fountain-head.  The 
court  resumed  the  manners  and  customs  which 
had  been  in  vogue  before  the  Revolution.  Re- 
publican simplicity  gave  way  to  imperial  preten- 
sions, attitudes,  extravagances,  pose.  The  con- 
stitution was  revised  to  meet  the  situation,  and 
Napoleon  was  crowned  in  a  memorable  and 
sumptuous  ceremony  in  Notre  Dame,  the  Pope 
coming  all  the  way  from  Rome  to  assist — but  not 
to  crown.  At  the  critical  point  in  the  splendid 
ceremony  Napoleon  crowned  himself  and  then 
crowned  the  Empress.  But  the  Pope  poured 
the  holy  oil  upon  Napoleon's  head.  This  former 
lieutenant  of  artillery  thus  became  the  "an- 
ointed of  the  Lord,"  in  good  though  irregular 
standing.  He  crowned  himself  a  little  later  King 
of  Italy,  after  he  had  changed  the  Cisalpine  Re- 
public into  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  (1805). 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      295 

The  history  of  the  Empire  is  the  history  of  ten 
years  of  uninterrupted  war.  Europe  saw  a  uni- 
versal menace  to  the  independence  and  liberty 
of  all  states  in  the  growing  and  arrogant  ascend- 
ency of  France,  an  ascendency  and  a  threat  all 
the  more  obvious  and  dangerous  now  that  that 
country  was  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  an  auto- 
crat, and  that  too  an  autocrat  who  had  grown 
great  by  war  and  whose  military  tastes 
and  talents  would  now  have  free  rein. 
Napoleon  was  evoking  on  every  occasion,  inten- 
tionally and  ostentatiously,  the  imperial  sou- 
venirs of  Julius  Caesar  and  of  Charlemagne. 
What  could  this  mean  except  that  he  planned  to 
rule  not  only  France,  but  Europe,  consequently 
the  world?  Unless  the  other  nations  were  will- 
ing to  accept  subordinate  positions,  were  will- 
ing to  abdicate  their  rank  as  equals  in  the 
family  of  nations,  they  must  fight  the  dictator- 
ship which  was  manifestly  impending.  Funda- 
mentally this  is  what  the  ten  years'  war  meant, 
the  right  of  other  states  to  live  and  prosper, 
not  on  mere  sufferance  of  Napoleon,  but  by 
their  own  right  and  because  universal  domi- 
nation or  the  undue  ascendency  of  any  sin- 
gle state  would  necessarily  be  dangerous  to 
the  other  states  and  to  whatever  elements  of 
civilization  they  represented.  France  already 


296  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

had  that  ascendency  in  1804.  Under  Napoleon 
she  made  a  tremendous  effort  to  convert  it 
into  absolute  and  universal  domination.  She 
almost  succeeded.  That  she  failed  was  due 
primarily  to  the  steadfast,  unshakable  opposi- 
tion of  one  power,  England,  which  never  ac- 
quiesced in  her  pretensions,  which  fought  them 
at  every  stage  with  all  her  might,  through  good 
report  and  through  evil  report,  stirring  up  oppo- 
sition wherever  she  could,  weaving  coalition 
after  coalition,  using  her  money  and  her  navy 
untiringly  in  the  effort.  It  was  a  war  of  the 
giants.  A  striking  aspect  of  the  matter  was  the 
struggle  between  sea-power,  directed  by  Eng- 
land, and  land-power,  directed  by  Napoleon. 

While  the  Empire  was  being  organized  in  1804 
a  new  coalition  was  being  formed  against  France, 
the  third  in  the  series  we  are  studying.  England 
and  France  had  made  peace  at  Amiens  in  1802. 
That  peace  lasted  only  a  year,  until  May  17,  1803. 
Then  the  two  states  flew  to  arms  again.  Tne 
reasons  were  various.  England  was  jealous  of 
the  French  expansion  which  had  been  secured 
by  the  treaties  of  Campo  Formio  and  Luneville, 
French  control  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
French  domination  over  considerable  parts  of 
the  Italian  peninsula,  particularly  French  con- 
quest of  Belgium,  including  the  fine  port  of  Ant- 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      297 

werp.  England  had  always  been  opposed  to 
French  expansion,  particularly  northward  along 
the  Channel,  which  Englishmen  considered  and 
called  the  English  Channel.  The  English  did 
not  wish  any  rival  along  those  shores.  However, 
despite  this,  they  had  finally  consented  to  make 
the  Peace  of  Amiens.  The  chief  motive  was  the 
condition  of  their  industries.  The  long  war, 
since  1793,  had  damaged  their  trade  enormously. 
They  hoped,  by  making  peace  with  France,  to 
find  the  markets  of  the  Continent  open  to  them 
once  more,  and  thus  to  revive  their  trade.  But 
they  shortly  saw  that  this  was  not  at  all  the 
idea  of  France.  Napoleon  wished  to  develop  the 
industries  of  France,  wished  to  have  French  in- 
dustries not  only  supply  the  French  market  but 
win  the  markets  of  the  other  countries  on  the  Con- 
tinent. He  therefore  established  high  protective 
tariffs  with  this  end  in  view.  Thus  English  com- 
petition was  excluded  or  at  least  greatly  reduced. 
The  English  were  extremely  angry  and  did  not 
at  all  propose  to  lie  down  supinely,  beaten  without 
a  struggle.  That  had  never  been  their  custom. 
War  would  be  less  burdensome,  said  their  busi- 
ness men.  For  England  commerce  was  her  very 
breath  of  life.  Without  it  she  could  not  exist. 
This  explains  why,  now  that  she  entered  upon  a 
struggle  in  its  defense,  she  did  not  lay  down  her 


298  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

arms  again  until  she  had  her  rival  safely  impris- 
oned in  the  island  of  St.  Helena. 

There  were  other  causes  of  friction  between 
the  two  countries  which  rendered  peace  most 
unstable.  With  both  nations  ready  for  war, 
though  not  eager  for  it,  causes  for  rupture  were 
not  hard  to  find.  War  broke  out  between  them 
in  May,  1803.  Napoleon  immediately  seized  Han- 
over, a  possession  in  Germany  of  the  English 
king.  He  declared  the  long  coast  of  Europe  from 
Hanover  southward  and  eastward  to  Taranto  in 
Italy  blockaded,  that  is,  closed  to  English  com- 
merce, and  he  began  to  prepare  for  an  invasion 
of  England  itself.  This  was  a  difficult  task,  re- 
quiring much  time,  for  France  was  inferior  to 
England  on  the  seas,  and  yet,  unless  she  could 
control  the  Channel  for  a  while  at  least,  she  could 
not  send  an  army  of  invasion.  Napoleon  estab- 
lished a  vast  camp  of  150,000  men  at  Boulogne 
to  be  ready  for  the  descent.  He  hastened  the 
construction  of  hundreds  of  flat-boats  for  trans- 
port. Whether  all  this  was  mere  make-believe 
intended  to  alarm  England,  whether  he  knew 
that  after  all  it  was  a  hopeless  undertaking,  and 
was  simply  displaying  all  this  activity  to  compel 
England  to  think  that  peace  would  be  wiser  than 
running  the  risk  of  invasion,  we  do  not  positively 
know. 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      299 

At  any  rate  England  was  not  intimidated.  She 
prepared  for  defense,  and  she  also  prepared  for 
offense  by  seeking  and  finding  allies  on  the  Conti- 
nent, by  building  up  a  coalition  which  might  hold 
Napoleon  in  check,  which  might,  it  was  hoped, 
even  drive  France  back  within  her  original 
boundaries,  taking  away  from  her  the  recent  ac- 
quisitions of  Belgium,  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
and  the  Italian  annexations  and  protectorates. 
England  made  a  treaty  to  this  effect  with  Russia, 
which  had  her  own  reasons  for  opposing  France 
— her  dread  of  his  projects  in  the  eastern  Medi- 
terranean at  the  expense  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 
For  if  any  one  was  to  carve  up  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire Russia  wished  to  do  it  herself.  The  English 
agreed  to  pay  subsidies  to  the  Czar,  a  certain 
amount  for  every  100,000  men  she  should  fur- 
nish for  the  war. 

Finally  in  1805  Austria  entered  the  coalition, 
jealous  of  Napoleon's  aggressions  in  Italy, 
anxious  to  wipe  out  the  memory  of  the  defeats 
of  the  two  campaigns  in  which  he  had  conquered 
her  in  1796  and  1800,  eager,  also,  to  recover  the 
position  she  had  once  held  as  the  dominant  power 
in  the  Italian  peninsula. 

Such  was  the  situation  in  1805.  When  he  was 
quite  ready  Napoleon  struck  with  tremendous 
effect,  not  against  England,  which  he  could  not 


300  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

reach  because  of  the  silver  streak  of  sea  that  lay 
between  them,  not  against  Russia,  which  was  too 
remote  for  immediate  attention,  but  against  his 
old-time  enemy,  Austria,  and  he  bowled  her  over 
more  summarily  and  more  humiliatingly  than  he 
had  ever  done  before. 

The  campaign  of  1805  was  another  Napoleonic 
masterpiece.  The  Austrians,  not  waiting  for 
their  allies,  the  Russians,  to  come  up,  had  sent 
an  army  of  80,000  men  under  General  Mack  up 
the  Danube  into  Bavaria.  Mack  had  taken  his 
position  at  Ulm,  expecting  that  Napoleon  would 
come  through  the  passes  of  the  Black  Forest, 
the  most  direct  and  the  usual  way  for  a  French 
army  invading  southern  Germany.  But  not  at 
all.  Napoleon  had  a  very  different  plan.  Send- 
ing enough  troops  into  the  Black  Forest  region 
to  confirm  Mack  in  his  opinion  that  this  was  the 
strategic  point  to  hold,  and  thus  keeping  him 
rooted  there,  Napoleon  transferred  his  Grand 
Army  from  Boulogne  and  the  shores  of  the  Eng- 
lish Channel,  where  it  had  been  training  for  the 
past  two  years,  across  Germany  from  north  to 
south,  a  distance  of  500  miles,  in  twenty-three 
days  of  forced  marches,  conducted  in  astonish- 
ing secrecy  and  with  mathematical  precision.  He 
thus  threw  himself  into  the  rear  of  Mack's  army, 
between  it  and  Vienna,  cutting  the  line  of  com- 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      301 

munication,  and  repeating  the  strategy  of  the 
Great  Saint  Bernard  and  Marengo  campaign  of 
1800.  Mack  had  expected  Napoleon  to  come 
from  the  west  through  the  Black  Forest.  In- 
stead, when  it  was  too  late,  he  found  him  coming 
from  the  east,  up  the  Danube,  toward  Ulm.  Na- 
poleon made  short  work  of  Mack,  forcing  him  to 
capitulate  at  Ulm,  October  2Oth.  "I  have  accom- 
plished what  I  set  out  to  do,"  Napoleon  wrote 
Josephine.  "  I  have  destroyed  the  Austrian  army 
by  means  of  marches  alone."  It  was  a  victory 
won  by  legs — 60,000  prisoners,  120  guns,  more 
than  thirty  generals.  It  had  cost  him  only  1,500 
men. 

The  way  was  now  open  down  the  Danube  to 
Vienna.  Thither,  along  poor  roads  and  through 
rain  and  snow,  Napoleon  rushed,  covering  the 
distance  in  three  weeks.  Vienna  was  entered  in 
triumph  and  without  resistance,  as  the  Emperor 
Francis  had  retired  in  a  northeasterly  direction, 
desiring  to  effect  a  junction  with  the  oncoming 
Russian  army.  Napoleon  followed  him  and 
on  December  2,  1805,  won  perhaps  his  most 
famous  victory,  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  on  the 
first  anniversary  of  his  coronation  as  Emperor. 
All  day  long  the  battle  raged.  The  sun  breaking 
through  the  wintry  fogs  was  considered  a  favor- 
able omen  by  the  French  and  henceforth  became 


302  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

the  legendary  symbol  of  success.  The  fighting 
was  terrific.  The  bravery  of  the  soldiers  on  both 
sides  was  boundless,  but  the  generalship  of  Na- 
poleon was  as  superior  as  that  of  the  Austro- 
Russians  was  faulty.  The  result  was  decisive, 
overwhelming.  The  allies  were  routed  and  sent 
flying  in  every  direction.  They  had  lost  a  large 
number  of  men  and  nearly  all  of  their  artillery. 
Napoleon,  with  originally  inferior  numbers,  had 
not  used  all  he  had,  had  not  thrown  in  his  re- 
serves. No  wonder  he  addressed  his  troops  in 
an  exultant  strain.  "  Soldiers,  I  am  satisfied  with 
you.  In  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  you  have  justi- 
fied all  my  expectations  by  your  intrepidity;  you 
have  adorned  your  eagles  with  immortal  glory." 
No  wonder  that  he  told  them  that  they  were 
marked  men,  that  on  returning  to  France  all  they 
would  need  to  say  in  order  to  command  admira- 
tion would  be:  "I  was  at  the  battle  of  Auster- 
litz." 

The  results  of  this  brief  and  brilliant  campaign 
were  various  and  striking.  The  Russians  did  not 
make  peace,  but  withdrew  in  great  disorder  as 
best  they  could  to  their  own  country.  But 
Austria  immediately  signed  a  peace  and  a  very 
costly  one,  too.  By  the  Treaty  of  Pressburg, 
dictated  by  Napoleon,  who  now  had  beaten  her 
disastrously  for  the  third  time,  she  suffered  her 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      303 

greatest  humiliation,  her  severest  losses.  She 
ceded  Venetia,  a  country  she  had  held  for 
eight  years,  since  Campo  Formio,  to  the  King- 
dom of  Italy,  whose  king  was  Napoleon.  Is- 
tria  and  Dalmatia  also  she  ceded  to  Napoleon. 
Of  all  this  coast-line  of  the  upper  Adriatic 
she  retained  only  the  single  port  of  Trieste. 
Not  Austria  but  France  was  henceforth  the 
chief  Adriatic  power.  The  German  principalities, 
Bavaria  and  Baden,  had  sided  with  Napoleon  in 
the  late  campaign  and  Austria  was  now  compelled 
to  cede  to  each  of  them  some  of  her  valuable  pos- 
sessions in  south  Germany.  Shut  out  of  the 
Adriatic,  shut  out  of  Italy,  Austria  lost  3,000,000 
subjects.  She  became  nearly  a  land-locked  coun- 
try. Moreover  she  was  compelled  to  acquiesce 
in  other  changes  that  Napoleon  had  made  or  was 
about  to  make  in  various  countries. 

Napoleon  began  now  to  play  with  zest  the  con- 
genial role  of  Charlemagne  about  which  he  was 
prone  to  talk  enthusiastically  and  with  rhetorical 
extravagance.  Having  magically  made  himself 
Emperor,  he  now  made  others  kings.  As  he 
abased  mountains,  so  he  exalted  valleys.  In  the 
early  months  of  1806  he  created  four  kings.  He 
raised  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg,  hitherto  only 
duchies,  to  the  rank  of  kingdoms,  which  they  have 
since  held,  "  in  grateful  recompense  for  the  at- 


304  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

tachment  they  have  shown  the  Emperor,"  he 
said.  During  the  campaign  the  King  of  Naples 
had  at  a  critical  moment  sided  with  his  enemies. 
Napoleon  therefore  issued  a  simple  decree, 
merely  stating  that  the  House  of  Bourbon  had 
ceased  to  rule  in  Naples.  He  gave  the  vacant 
throne  to  his  brother  Joseph,  two  years  older 
than  himself.  Joseph,  who  had  first  studied  to 
become  a  priest,  then  to  become  an  army  officer, 
and  still  later  to  become  a  lawyer,  now  found 
himself  a  king,  not  by  the  grace  of  God,  but  by 
the  grace  of  a  younger  brother. 

The  horn  of  plenty  was  not  yet  empty.  Na- 
poleon, after  Austerlitz,  forced  the  Batavian  Re- 
public, that  is  Holland,  to  become  a  monarchy 
and  to  accept  his  brother  Louis,  thirty-two  years 
of  age,  as  its  king.  Louis,  as  mild  as  his  brother 
was  hard,  thought  that  the  way  to  rule  was  to 
consult  the  interests  and  win  the  affections  of 
his  subjects.  As  this  was  not  Napoleon's  idea, 
Louis  was  destined  to  a  rough  and  unhappy, 
and  also  brief,  experience  as  king.  "When  men 
say  of  a  king  that  he  is  a  good  man,  it  means  that 
he  is  a  failure,"  was  the  information  that  Napo- 
leon sent  Louis  for  his  instruction. 

The  number  of  kingdoms  at  Napoleon's  dis- 
posal was  limited,  temporarily  at  least.  But  he 
had  many  other  favors  to  bestow,  which  were  not 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      305 

to  be  despised.  Nor  were  they  despised.  His 
sister  Elise  was  made  Princess  of  Lucca  and  Car- 
rara, his  sister  Pauline,  a  beautiful  and  luxurious 
young  creature,  married  Prince  Borghese  and 
became  Duchess  of  Guastalla,  and  his  youngest 
sister,  Caroline,  who  resembled  him  in  strength 
of  character,  married  Murat,  the  dashing  cavalry 
officer,  who  now  became  Duke  of  Berg,  an  arti- 
ficial state  which  Napoleon  created  along  the 
lower  Rhine. 

Two  brothers,  Lucien  and  Jerome,  were  not 
provided  for,  and  thereby  hangs  a  tale.  Each 
had  incurred  Napoleon's  displeasure,  as  each  had 
married  for  love  and  without  asking  his  consent. 
He  had  other  plans  for  them  and  was  enraged  at 
their  independence.  Both  were  expelled  from 
the  charmed  circle,  until  they  should  put  away 
their  wives  and  marry  others  according  to  Na- 
poleon's taste,  not  theirs.  This  Lucien  stead- 
fastly refused  to  do,  and  so  he,  who  by  his  pres- 
ence of  mind  on  the  iQth  Brumaire  had  saved 
the  day  and  rendered  all  this  story  possible,  stood 
outside  the  imperial  favor,  counting  no  more 
in  the  history  of  the  times.  When  Jerome,  the 
youngest  member  of  this  astonishing  family,  and 
made  of  more  pliable  stuff,  awoke  from  love's 
young  dream,  and  at  the  furious  demands  of 
Napoleon,  put  away  his  beautiful  American 


306  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

bride,  the  Baltimore  belle,  Elizabeth  Patterson, 
then  he  too  became  a  king.  All  who  worshiped 
Mammon  in  those  exciting  days  received  their 
appropriate  reward. 

It  would  be  pleasant  and  very  easy  to  continue 
this  catalogue  of  favors,  scattered  right  and  left 
by  the  man  who  had  rapidly  grown  so  great. 
Officials  of  the  state,  generals  of  the  army,  and 
more  distant  relatives  received  glittering  prizes 
and  went  on  their  way  rejoicing,  anxious  for 
more.  Appetite  is  said  to  grow  by  that  on  which 
it  feeds. 

More  important  far  than  this  flowering  of  family 
fortunes  was  another  result  of  the  Austerlitz 
campaign,  the  transformation  of  Germany,  ef- 
fected by  the  French  with  the  eager  and  selfish 
cooperation  of  many  German  princes.  That 
transformation,  which  greatly  reduced  the  dis- 
tracting number  of  German  states,  by  allowing 
some  to  absorb  others,  had  already  been  going 
on  for  several  years.  When  France  acquired 
the  German  territory  west  of  the  river  Rhine,  it 
was  agreed,  in  the  treaties  of  Campo  Formio 
and  Luneville,  that  the  princes  thus  dispossessed 
should  receive  compensations  east  of  the  river 
Rhine.  This  obviously  could  not  be  done  liter- 
ally and  for  all,  as  every  inch  of  territory  east  of 
the  Rhine  already  had  its  ruler.  As  a  matter  of 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      307 

fact  the  change  was  worked  out  by  compensat- 
ing only  the  hereditary  rulers.  There  were,  both 
on  the  left  bank  and  on  the  right  and  all  through- 
out Germany,  many  petty  states  whose  rulers 
were  not  hereditary — ecclesiastical  states,  and 
free  imperial  cities.  Now  these  were  tossed  to 
the  princes  who  ruled  by  hereditary  right,  as 
compensation  for  the  territories  they  had  lost 
west  of  the  river  Rhine.  This  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  petty  German  states  for  the  advantage  of 
other  lucky  German  states  was  accomplished  not 
by  the  Germans  themselves,  which  would  have 
been  shameless  enough,  but  was  accomplished  in 
Paris.  In  the  antechambers  of  the  First  Consul, 
particularly  in  the  parlors  of  Talleyrand,  the  dis- 
graceful begging  for  pelf  went  on.  Talleyrand 
grew  rapidly  rich,  so  many  were  the  "gifts" — 
one  dreads  to  think  what  they  would  be  called  in 
a  vulgar  democracy — which  German  princes  gave 
him  for  his  support  in  despoiling  their  fellow  Ger- 
mans. For  months  the  disgusting  traffic  went 
on,  and  when  it  ended  in  the  "  Conclusion  "  of 
March,  1803,  really  dictated  by  Bonaparte,  the 
number  of  German  principalities  had  greatly  de- 
creased. All  the  ecclesiastical  states  of  Germany, 
with  one  single  exception,  had  disappeared  and 
of  the  fifty  free  cities  only  six  remained.  All 
went  to  enlarge  other  states.  At  least  the  map 


3o8  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

of  Germany  was  simpler,  but  the  position  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Empire  was  greatly  altered. 
Of  the  360  states  which  composed  the  Holy 
Roman  or  German  Empire  in  1792  only  eighty- 
two  remained  in  1805. 

All  this  had  occurred  before  Austerlitz.  After 
Austerlitz  the  pace  was  increased,  ending  in  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  Empire.  Paris  again 
became  the  center  of  German  politics  and  in- 
trigues, as  in  1803.  The  result  was  that  in  1806 
the  new  kings  of  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg  and 
fourteen  other  German  princes  renounced  their 
allegiance  to  the  German  Emperor,  formed  a  new 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine  (July  12,  1806),  rec- 
ognized Napoleon  as  their  "  Protector,"  made  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  him  which 
gave  to  him  the  control  of  their  foreign  policy, 
the  settlement  of  questions  of  peace  and  war,  and 
guaranteed  him  63,000  German  troops  for  his 
wars.  Fresh  annexations  to  these  states  were 
made.  Thus  perished  many  more  petty  German 
states,  eagerly  absorbed  by  the  fortunate  sixteen. 

Perished  also  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  which 
had  been  in  existence,  real  or  shadowy,  for  a 
thousand  years.  The  secession  of  the  sixteen 
princes  and  the  formation  of  the  Confederation 
of  the  Rhine  killed  it.  It  was  only  formal  inter- 
ment, therefore,  when  Napoleon  demanded  of  the 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      309 

Emperor  Francis,  whom  he  had  defeated  at 
Austerlitz,  that  he  renounce  his  title  as  Holy 
Roman  Emperor.  This  Francis  hastened  to  do 
(August  6,  1806),  contenting  himself  henceforth 
with  the  new  title  he  had  given  himself  two  years 
earlier,  when  Napoleon  had  assumed  the  imperial 
title.  Henceforth  he  who  had  been  Francis  II 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  called  Francis 
I,  Hereditary  Emperor  of  Austria. 

Napoleon,  who  could  neither  read  nor  speak  a 
word  of  German,  was  now  the  real  ruler  of  a  large 
part  of  Germany,  the  strongest  factor  in  German 
politics.  To  French  domination  of  West  Ger- 
many, annexed  to  France  earlier,  came  an  im- 
portant increase  of  influence.  It  was  now  that 
French  ideas  began  in  a  modified  form  to  remold 
the  civil  life  of  South  Germany.  Tithes  were 
abolished,  the  inequality  of  social  classes  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law  was  reduced  though  not  de- 
stroyed, religious  liberty  was  established,  the 
position  of  the  Jews  was  improved.  The  Ger- 
mans lost  in  self-respect  from  this  French  domi- 
nation, the  patriotism  of  such  as  were  patriotic 
was  sorely  wounded  at  the  sight  of  this  alien 
rule,  but  in  the  practical  contrivances  of  a  mod- 
ernized social  life,  worked  out  by  the  French 
Revolution,  and  now  in  a  measure  introduced 
among  them,  they  had  a  salutary  compensation, 


310  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

While  all  this  shifting  of  scenes  was  being  ef- 
fected Napoleon  had  kept  a  large  army  in  South 
Germany.  The  relations  with  Prussia,  which 
country  had  been  neutral  for  the  past  ten  years, 
since  the  Treaty  of  Basel  of  1795,  were  becoming 
strained  and  grew  rapidly  more  so.  The  policy 
of  the  Prussian  King,  Frederick  William  III,  was 
weak,  vacillating,  covetous.  His  diplomacy  was 
playing  fast  and  loose  with  his  obligations  as  a 
neutral  and  with  his  desires  for  the  territorial 
aggrandizement  of  Prussia.  Napoleon's  atti- 
tude was  insolent  and  contemptuous.  Both  sides 
made  an  unenviable  but  characteristic  record  in 
double-dealing.  The  sordid  details,  highly  dis- 
creditable to  both,  cannot  be  narrated  here. 
Finally  the  war  party  in  Berlin  got  the  upper 
hand,  led  by  the  high-spirited  and  beautiful 
Queen  Louise  and  by  the  military  chiefs,  relics 
of  the  glorious  era  of  Frederick  the  Great,  who 
thought  they  could  do  what  Frederick  had  done, 
that  is,  defeat  the  French  with  ease.  As  if  to  give 
the  world  some  intimation  of  the  terrible  signifi- 
cance of  their  displeasure  they  went  to  the 
French  Embassy  in  Berlin  and  bravely  whetted 
their  swords  upon  its  steps  of  stone.  The  royal- 
ist officers  at  Versailles  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Revolution  had  shown  no  more  inane  folly  in 
playing  with  fire  than  did  the  Prussian  military 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      311 

caste  at  this  time.  The  one  had  learned  its  les- 
son. The  other  was  now  to  go  to  the  same  piti- 
less school  of  experience. 

Hating  France  and  having  an  insensate  confi- 
dence in  their  own  superiority,  the  Prussian  war 
party  forced  the  government  to  issue  an  ulti- 
matum to  Napoleon,  Emperor  of  the  French, 
demanding  that  he  withdraw  his  French  troops 
beyond  the  Rhine.  Napoleon  knew  better  how 
to  give  ultimatums  than  how  to  receive  them. 
He  had  watched  the  machinations  of  the  Prussian 
ruling  class  with  close  attention.  He  was  abso- 
lutely prepared  when  the  rupture  came.  He  now 
fell  upon  them  like  a  cloudburst  and  administered 
a  crushing  blow  in  the  two  battles  of  Jena  and 
Auerstadt,  fought  on  the  same  day  at  those  two 
places,  a  few  miles  apart  (October  14,  1806),  he 
himself  in  command  of  the  former,  Davout  of  the 
latter.  The  Prussians  fought  bravely,  but  their 
generalship  was  bad.  Their  whole  army  was  dis- 
organized, became  panic-stricken,  streamed  from 
the  field  of  battle  as  best  it  could,  no  longer  re- 
ceiving or  obeying  orders,  many  throwing  away 
their  arms,  fleeing  in  every  direction.  Thousands 
of  prisoners  were  taken  and  in  succeeding  days 
French  officers  scoured  the  country  after  the 
fugitives,  taking  thousands  more.  The  collapse 
was  complete.  There  was  no  longer  any  Prus- 


312  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

sian  army.  One  after  another  all  the  fortresses 
fell. 

On  the  25th  of  October  Napoleon  entered  Ber- 
lin in  triumph.  He  had  previously  visited  the 
tomb  of  Frederick  the  Great  at  Potsdam  in  order 
to  show  his  admiration  for  his  genius.  He  had 
the  execrable  taste,  however,  to  take  the  dead 
Frederick's  sword  and  sash  and  send  them  to 
Paris  as  trophies.  "  The  entire  kingdom  of  Prus- 
sia is  in  my  hands,"  he  announced.  He  planned 
that  the  punishment  should  be  proportionate  to 
his  rage.  He  drew  up  a  decree  deposing  the 
House  of  Hohenzollern  but  did  not  issue  it,  wait- 
ing for  a  more  spectacular  moment.  He  laid 
enormous  war  contributions  upon  the  unhappy 
victim. 

Napoleon  postponed  the  announcement  of  the 
final  doom  until  he  should  have  finished  with 
another  enemy,  Russia.  Before  leaving  Berlin 
for  the  new  campaign  he  issued  the  famous  de- 
crees which  declared  the  British  Isles  in  a  state 
of  blockade  and  prohibited  commerce  with  them 
on  the  part  of  his  dominions  and  those  of  his 
allies. 

In  the  campaign  of  1806  the  Russians  had  been 
allied  with  the  Prussians  although  they  had  taken 
no  part,  as  the  latter  had  not  waited  for  them  to 
come  up.  Napoleon  now  turned  his  attention  to 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      313 

them.  Going  to  Warsaw,  the  leading  city  of  that 
part  of  Poland  which  Prussia  had  acquired  in 
the  partition  of  that  country,  he  planned  the  new 
campaign,  which  was  signalized  by  two  chief 
battles,  Eylau  and  Friedland.  The  former  was 
one  of  the  most  bloody  of  his  entire  career. 
Fighting  in  the  midst  of  a  blinding  snowstorm 
on  February  8,  1807,  Napoleon  narrowly  escaped 
defeat.  The  slaughter  was  frightful — "sheer 
butchery,"  said  Napoleon  later.  "What  car- 
nage," said  Ney,  "  and  no  results,"  thus  ac- 
curately describing  this  encounter.  Napoleon 
managed  to  keep  the  field  and  in  his  usual  way 
he  represented  the  battle  as  a  victory.  But  it 
was  a  drawn  battle.  For  the  first  time  in  Europe 
he  had  failed  to  win.  The  Russian  soldiers  fought 
with  reckless  bravery — "  it  was  necessary  to  kill 
them  twice,"  was  the  way  the  French  soldiers 
expressed  it. 

Four  months  later,  however,  on  June  14,  1807, 
on  the  anniversary  of  Marengo,  Napoleon's  star 
shone  again  unclouded.  He  won  a  victory  at 
Friedland  which,  as  he  informed  Josephine,  "is 
the  worthy  sister  of  Marengo,  Austerlitz,  and 
Jena."  The  victory  was  at  any  rate  so  decisive 
that  the  Czar,  Alexander  I,  consented  to  make 
overtures  for  peace.  The  Peace  of  Tilsit  was 
concluded  by  the  two  Emperors  in  person  after 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

many  interviews,  the  first  one  of  which  was  held 
on  a  raft  in  the  middle  of  the  river  Niemen.  Not 
only  did  they  make  peace,  but  they  went  further 
and  made  a  treaty  of  alliance,  offensive  and 
defensive.  Napoleon  gained  a  great  diplomatic 
victory,  which  completely  altered  the  previous 
diplomatic  system  of  Europe,  a  fitting  climax 
to  three  years  of  remarkable  achievement  upon 
the  field  of  battle.  Exercising  upon  Alexander 
all  his  powers  of  fascination,  of  flattery,  of  imagi- 
nation, of  quick  and  sympathetic  understanding, 
he  completely  won  him  over.  The  two  Emper- 
ors conversed  in  the  most  dulcet,  rapturous  way. 
'  Why  did  not  we  two  meet  earlier?  "  exclaimed 
the  enthusiastic  Czar  of  All  the  Russias.  With 
their  two  imperial  heads  bowed  over  a  map 
of  Europe  they  proceeded  to  divide  it.  Alex- 
ander was  given  to  understand  that  he  might 
take  Finland,  which  he  coveted,  from  Sweden, 
and  attractive  pickings  from  the  vast  Turk- 
ish Empire  were  dangled  somewhat  vaguely 
before  him.  On  the  other  hand  he  recog- 
nized the  changes  Napoleon  had  made  or  was 
about  to  make  in  Western  Europe,  in  Italy,  and 
in  Germany.  Alexander  was  to  offer  himself  as 
a  mediator  between  those  bitter  enemies,  Eng- 
land and  France,  and,  in  case  England  declined 
to  make  peace,  then  Russia  would  join  France  in 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE       315 

enforcing  the  continental  blockade,  which  was 
designed  to  bring  England  to  terms. 

Napoleon  out  of  regard  for  his  new  friend  and 
ally  promised  to  allow  Prussia  still  to  exist.  The 
decree  dethroning  the  House  of  Hohenzollern 
was  never  issued.  But  Napoleon's  terms  to  Prus- 
sia were  very  severe.  She  must  give  up  all  her 
territory  west  of  the  river  Elbe.  Out  of  this  and 
other  German  territories  Napoleon  now  made  the 
Kingdom  of  Westphalia  which  he  gave  to  his 
brother  Jerome,  who  had  by  this  time  divorced 
his  American  wife.  Prussia's  eastern  possessions 
were  also  diminished.  Most  of  what  she  had  ac- 
quired in  the  partitions  of  Poland  was  taken  from 
her  and  created  into  the  Grand  Duchy  of  War- 
saw, to  be  ruled  over  by  the  sovereign  of  Saxony, 
whose  title  of  Elector  Napoleon  at  this  juncture 
now  changed  into  that  of  King.  These  three 
states,  Westphalia,  Saxony,  and  the  Duchy  of 
Warsaw,  now  entered  the  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine,  whose  name  thus  became  a  misnomer,  as 
the  Confederation  included  not  only  the  Rhen- 
ish and  South  German  states  but  stretched  from 
France  to  the  Vistula,  including  practically  all 
Germany  except  Prussia,  now  reduced  to  half 
her  former  size,  and  except  Austria. 

Naturally  Napoleon  was  in  high  feather  as 
he  turned  homeward.  Naturally,  also,  he  was 


316  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

pleased  with  the  Czar.  "  He  is  a  handsome 
good  young  emperor,  with  more  mind  than  he 
is  generally  credited  with " — such  was  Napo- 
leon's encomium.  Next  to  being  sole  master 
of  all  Europe  came  the  sharing  of  mastery 
with  only  one  other.  A  few  months  later 
he  wrote  his  new  ally  that  "  the  work  of  Tilsit 
will  regulate  the  destinies  of  the  world." 
There  only  remained  the  English,  "  the  active 
islanders,"  not  yet  charmed  or  conquered.  In 
the  same  letter  to  the  Czar  Napoleon  refers  to 
them  as  "  the  enemies  of  the  world  "  and  told 
how  they  could  be  easily  brought  to  book.  He 
had  forgotten,  or  rather  he  had  wished  to  have 
the  world  forget,  that  there  was  one  monstrous 
flaw  in  the  apparent  perfection  of  his  prodigious 
success.  Two  years  before,  on  the  very  day  after 
the  capitulation  of  Ulm,  Admiral  Nelson  had 
completely  destroyed  the  French  fleet  in  the 
battle  of  Trafalgar  (October  21,  1805),  giving 
his  life  that  England  might  live  and  inspir- 
ing his  own  age  and  succeeding  ages  by  the 
cry,  "  England  expects  every  man  to  do  his 
duty!" 

The  French  papers  did  not  mention  the  battle 
of  Trafalgar,  but  it  nevertheless  bulks  large  in 
history.  This  was  Napoleon's  second  taste  of 
sea-power,  his  first  having  been,  as  we  have 


THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  EMPIRE      317 

seen,  in  Egypt,  several  years  before,  also  at  the 
hands  of  Nelson. 

Napoleon  returned  to  Paris  in  the  pride  of 
power  and  of  supreme  achievement.  But,  it  is 
said,  pride  cometh  before  a  fall.  Was  the  race 
mistaken  when  it  coined  this  cooling  phrase  of 
proverbial  wisdom?  It  remained  to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT 

AFTER  Tilsit  there  remained  England,  always 
England,  as  the  enemy  of  France.  In  1805  Na- 
poleon had  defeated  Austria,  in  1806  Prussia,  in 
1807  Russia.  Then  the  last-named  power  had 
shifted  its  policy  completely,  had  changed  part- 
ners, and,  discarding  its  former  allies,  had  be- 
come the  ally  of  its  former  enemy. 

Napoleon  was  now  in  a  position  to  turn  his 
attention  to  England.  As  she  was  mistress  of 
the  seas,  as  she  had  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar  in 
1805  destroyed  the  French  navy,  the  Emperor 
was  compelled  to  find  other  means,  if  there  were 
any,  of  humbling  the  elusive  enemy.  Eng- 
land must  be  beaten,  but  how?  Napoleon  now 
adopted  a  policy  which  the  Convention  and  the 
Directory  had  originated.  Only  he  gave  to  it  a 
gigantic  application  and  development.  This  was 
the  Continental  System,  or  the  Continental 
Blockade.  If  England  could  not  be  conquered 
directly  by  French  fleets  and  armies,  she  might 
be  conquered  indirectly. 

England's  power  lay  in  her  wealth,  and  her 

318 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  319 

wealth  came  from  her  factories  and  her  com- 
merce which  carried  their  products  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  which  brought  her  the  necessary 
raw  materials,  and  which  kept  open  the  fruitful 
connection  with  her  scattered  colonies.  Cut  this 
artery,  prevent  this  commerce,  close  these  mar- 
kets, and  her  prosperity  would  be  destroyed. 
Manufacturers  would  be  compelled  to  shut  down 
their  factories.  Their  employees,  thrown  out  of 
work,  would  face  starvation.  With  that  doom 
impending,  the  working  classes  and  the  industrial 
and  commercial  classes,  threatened  with  ruin, 
would  resort  to  terrific  pressure  upon  the  Eng- 
lish government,  to  insurrections,  if  necessary, 
to  compel  it  to  sue  for  peace.  Economic  warfare 
was  now  to  be  tried  on  a  colossal  scale.  By  ex- 
hausting England's  resources  it  was  hoped  and 
expected  that  England  would  be  exhausted. 

By  the  Berlin  Decrees  (November  1806)  Na- 
poleon declared  a  blockade  of  the  British  Isles, 
forbade  all  commerce  with  them,  all  correspond- 
ence, all  trade  in  goods  coming  from  England 
or  her  colonies,  and  ordered  the  confiscation  and 
destruction  of  all  English  goods  found  in  France 
or  in  any  of  the  countries  allied  with  her.  No 
vessel  coming  from  England  or  England's  col- 
onies should  be  admitted  to  their  ports.  To  this 
England  replied  by  severe  Orders  in  Council, 


320  ,  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

which  Napoleon  capped  by  additional  decrees, 
issued  from  Milan. 

This  novel  form  of  warfare  had  very  im- 
portant consequences.  This  struggle  with  Eng- 
land dominates  the  whole  period  from  1807 
to  1814.  It  is  the  central  thread  that  runs 
through  all  the  tangled  and  tumultuous  history 
of  those  years.  There  were  plays  within  the  play, 
complications  and  struggles  with  other  nations 
which  sometimes  rose  to  such  heights  as  mo- 
mentarily to  obscure  the  titanic  contest  between 
sea-power  and  land-power.  But  the  fundamental, 
all-inclusive  contest,  to  which  all  else  was  sub- 
sidiary or  collateral,  was  the  war  to  the  knife 
between  these  two,  England  and  France.  Every- 
where we  see  its  influence,  whether  in  Spain  or 
Russia,  in  Rome  or  Copenhagen,  along  the  Dan- 
ube or  along  the  Tagus. 

The  Continental  System  had  this  peculiarity, 
that,  to  be  successful  in  annihilating  English 
prosperity  and  power,  it  must  be  applied  every- 
where and  constantly.  The  Continent  must  be 
sealed  hermetically  against  English  goods.  Only 
then,  with  their  necessary  markets  closed  to  them 
everywhere,  would  the  English  be  forced  to  yield. 
Let  there  be  a  leak  anywhere,  let  there  be  a  strip 
of  coast,  as  in  Portugal  or  Spain  or  Italy,  where 
English  ships  could  touch  and  land  their  goods, 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  321 

and  through  that  leak  England  could  and  would 
penetrate,  could  and  would  distribute  her  wares 
to  eager  customers,  thus  escaping  the  industrial 
strangulation  intended  by  the  Emperor  of  the 
French.  This  necessity  Napoleon  saw  clearly. 
It  was  never  absent  from  his  mind.  It  inspired 
his  conduct  at  very  step.  It  involved  him  in- 
evitably and,  in  the  end,  disastrously,  in  a  policy 
of  systematic  and  widespread  aggressions  upon 
other  countries,  consequently  in  a  costly  succes- 
sion of  wars. 

To  close  simply  the  ports  of  France  and  of 
French  possessions  to  English  commerce  would 
not  at  all  accomplish  the  object  aimed  at.  Na- 
poleon must  have  the  support  of  every  other  sea- 
board country  in  Europe.  This  he  sought  to  get. 
He  was  willing  to  get  it  peacefully  if  he  could, 
prepared  to  get  it  by  violence,  if  he  must.  He 
secured  the  adhesion  of  Russia  by  the  Treaty  of 
Tilsit.  Austria  and  Prussia,  having  been  so  de- 
cisively beaten,  had  to  consent  to  apply  the  sys- 
tem to  their  dominions.  Little  Denmark, 
perforce,  did  the  same  when  the  demand  came. 
Sweden,  on  the  other  hand,  adhered  to  the 
English  alliance.  Consequently  Russia  was 
urged  to  take  Finland,  which  belonged  to 
Sweden,  with  its  stretch  of  coast-line  and  its 
excellent  harbors.  Napoleon's  brother  Louis, 


322  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

King  of  Holland,  would  not  enforce  the  block- 
ade, as  to  do  so  meant  the  ruin  of  Holland. 
Consequently  he  was  in  the  end  forced  to 
abdicate  and  Holland  was  annexed  to  France 
(1810).  France  also  annexed  the  northern 
coasts  of  Germany  up  to  Liibeck,  including 
the  fine  ports  of  Bremen  and  Hamburg  and  the 
mouths  of  those  rivers  which  led  up  into  central 
Germany  (1810).  In  Italy  the  Pope  wished  to 
remain  neutral,  but  there  must  be  no  neutrals,  in 
Napoleon's  and  also  in  England's  opinion,  if  it 
could  be  prevented.  In  this  case  it  could.  Con- 
sequently Napoleon  annexed  part  of  the  Papal 
States  to  the  so-called  Kingdom  of  Italy,  of  which 
he  was  himself  the  King,  and  part  he  incorporated 
directly  and  without  ado  into  the  French  Empire 
(1809).  Immediately  the  Pope  excommunicated 
him  and  preached  a  holy  war  against  the  impi- 
ous conqueror.  Napoleon  in  turn  took  the  Pope 
prisoner  and  kept  him  such  for  several  years. 
This  was  injecting  the  religious  element  again 
into  politics,  as  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, to  the  profound  embitterment  of  the  times. 
Some  of  these  events  did  not  occur  immediately 
after  Tilsit,  but  did  occur  in  the  years  from  1809 
to  1811. 

What  did  occur  immediately  after  Tilsit  was  a 
famous  and  fatal  misadventure  in  Portugal  and 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  323 

Spain.  Portugal  stood  in  close  economic  and  po- 
litical relations  with  England  and  was  reluctant 
to  enforce  the  restrictions  of  the  Continental 
Blockade.  Her  coast-line  was  too  important  to 
be  allowed  as  an  open  gap.  Therefore  Napoleon 
arranged  with  Spain  for  the  conquest  and  parti- 
tion of  that  country.  French  and  Spanish  armies 
invaded  Portugal,  aiming  at  Lisbon.  Before  they 
arrived  Napoleon  had  announced  in  his  impres- 
sive and  laconic  fashion  that  "the  fall  of  the 
House  of  Braganza  furnishes  one  more  proof 
that  ruin  is  inevitable  to  whomsoever  attaches 
himself  to  the  English."  The  royal  family  es- 
caped capture  by  sailing  for  the  colony  of  Brazil 
and  seeking  safety  beyond  the  ocean.  There 
they  remained  until  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon. 
This  joint  expedition  had  given  Napoleon  the 
opportunity  to  introduce  large  bodies  of  troops 
into  the  country  of  his  ally,  Spain.  They  now  re- 
mained there,  under  Murat,  no  one  knew  for  what 
purpose.  No  one,  except  Napoleon,  in  whose 
mind  a  dark  and  devious  plan  was  maturing.  The 
French  had  dethroned  the  House  of  Bourbon 
in  France  during  the  Revolution.  Napoleon  had 
himself  after  Austerlitz  dethroned  the  House  of 
Bourbon  in  Naples  and  had  put  his  brother 
Joseph  in  its  place.  There  remained  a  branch 
of  that  House  in  Spain,  and  that  branch  was 


324  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

in  a  particularly  corrupt  and  decadent  state. 
The  King,  Charles  IV,  was  utterly  incom- 
petent; the  Queen  grossly  immoral  and  en- 
dowed with  the  tongue  of  a  fishwife;  her 
favorite  and  paramour,  Godoy,  was  the  real 
power  behind  the  throne.  The  whole  unsavory 
group  was  immensely  unpopular  in  Spain.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  King's  son,  Ferdinand,  was 
idolized  by  the  Spanish  people,  not  because 
of  anything  admirable  in  his  personality,  which 
was  utterly  despicable,  but  because  he  was  op- 
posed to  his  father,  his  mother,  and  Godoy.  Na- 
poleon thought  the  situation  favorable  to  his 
plan,  which  was  to  seize  the  throne  thus  occu- 
pied by  a  family  rendered  odious  by  its  character 
and  impotent  by  its  dissensions.  By  a  treacher- 
ous and  hypocritical  diplomacy  he  contrived  to 
get  Charles  IV,  the  Queen,  Godoy,  and  Ferdi- 
nand to  come  to  Bayonne  in  southern  France. 
No  hungry  spider  ever  viewed  more  coolly  a 
more  helpless  prey  entangled  in  his  web.  By  a 
masterly  use  of  the  black  arts  of  dissimulation, 
vituperation,  and  intimidation  he  swept  the 
whole  royal  crew  aside.  Charles  abdicated  his 
throne  into  the  hands  of  Napoleon,  who  there- 
upon forced  Ferdinand  to  renounce  his  rights 
under  a  thinly  veiled  threat  that,  if  he  did  not,  the 
Duke  d'Enghien  would  not  be  the  only  member 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  325 

of  the  House  of  Bourbon  celebrated  for  an  un- 
toward fate.  Ferdinand  and  his  brothers  were 
sent  as  prisoners  to  a  chateau  at  Valen£ay.  The 
vacant  throne  was  then  given  by  Napoleon  to 
his  brother  Joseph,  who  thereupon  abdicated  the 
kingship  of  Naples,  which  now  passed  to  Murat, 
Napoleon's  brother-in-law. 

Napoleon  later  admitted  that  it  was  this 
Spanish  business  that  destroyed  him.  "I  em- 
barked very  badly  on  the  Spanish  affair,  I  con- 
fess; the  immorality  of  it  was  too  patent, 
the  injustice  too  cynical."  But  this  was  the 
judgment  of  retrospect.  He  entered  upon  the 
venture  with  a  light  heart,  confident  that  at 
most  he  would  encounter  only  a  feeble  opposi- 
tion. "  Countries  full  of  monks  like  yours," 
he  told  Ferdinand,  "are  easy  to  subdue.  There 
may  be  some  riots,  but  the  Spaniards  will  quiet 
down  when  they  see  that  I  offer  them  the  integ- 
rity of  the  boundaries  of  their  kingdom,  a  liberal 
constitution,  and  the  preservation  of  their  re- 
ligion and  their  national  customs."  Contrary 
to  his  expectation  the  conduct  of  the  Spaniards 
was  quite  the  reverse  of  this.  He  might  offer 
them,  as  he  did,  better  government  than  they 
had  ever  had.  They  hated  him  as  a  thief  and 
trickster,  also  as  a  heretic,  as  a  man  whose  char- 
acter and  policies  and  ideas  were  anathema. 


326  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

Napoleon  embarked  on  a  five  years'  war  with 
them,  which  baffled  him  at  every  stage,  drained 
his  resources,  in  a  contest  that  was  inglorious, 
resources  which  should  have  been  husbanded 
most  carefully  for  more  important  purposes. 
"  If  it  should  cost  me  80,000  men  "  to  conquer 
Spain,  "  I  would  not  attempt  it,"  he  said  at  the 
beginning,  "  but  it  will  not  take  more  than 
12,000."  A  ghastly  miscalculation,  for  it  was  to 
take  300,000  and  to  end  in  failure. 

He  encountered  in  Spain  an  opposition  very 
different  in  kind  and  quality  from  any  he  had  met 
hitherto  in  Italy  or  Germany,  baffling,  elusive, 
wearing.  Previously  he  had  waged  war  with 
governments  only  and  their  armies,  not  with 
peoples  rising  as  one  man,  resolved  to  die  rather 
than  suffer  the  loss  of  their  independence.  The 
people  of  Italy,  the  people  of  Austria,  the  people 
of  Germany,  had  not  risen.  Their  governments 
had  not  appealed  to  them,  but  had  relied  upon 
their  usual  weapon,  professional  armies.  De- 
feating these,  as  Napoleon  had  done  with  com- 
parative ease,  the  governments  had  then  sued 
for  peace  and  endured  his  terms.  No  great  wave 
of  national  feeling,  daring  all,  risking  all,  had 
swept  over  the  masses  of  those  countries  where 
he  had  hitherto  appeared.  France  had  herself 
undergone  this  very  experience  and  her  armies 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  327 

had  won  their  great  successes  because  they  were 
aglow  with  the  spirit  of  nationality,  which  had 
been  so  aroused  and  intensified  by  the  Revolu- 
tion. Now  other  countries  were  to  take  a  page 
out  of  her  book,  at  the  very  time  that  she  was 
showing  a  tendency  to  forget  that  page  herself. 
The  Spanish  rising  was  the  first  of  a  series  of 
popular,  national,  instinctive  movements  that 
were  to  end  in  Napoleon's  undoing. 

The  kind  of  warfare  that  the  Spaniards  car- 
ried on  was  peculiar,  determined  by  the  physical 
features  of  the  land  and  by  the  circumstances  in 
which  they  found  themselves.  Lacking  the  lead- 
ership of  a  government — their  royal  family  being 
virtually  imprisoned  in  France — poor  and  with- 
out large  armies,  they  fought  as  guerrillas,  little 
bands,  not  very  formidable  in  themselves  indi- 
vidually, but  appearing  now  here,  now  there,  now 
everywhere,  picking  off  small  detachments, 
stragglers,  then  disappearing  into  their  moun- 
tain fastnesses.  They  thus  repeated  the  history 
of  their  long  struggles  with  the  Moors.  Every 
peasant  had  his  gun  and  every  peasant  was  in- 
spired by  loyalty  to  his  country,  and  by  religious 
zeal,  as  the  Vendeans  had  been.  The  Catholic 
clergy  entered  again  upon  the  scene,  fanning 
the  popular  animosity  against  this  despoiler  of 
the  Pope,  and  against  these  French  free-thinkers. 


328  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

Napoleon  had  aroused  two  mighty  forces  which 
were  to  dog  his  footsteps  henceforth,  that  of 
religious  zeal,  and  that  of  the  spirit  of  national- 
ity, each  with  a  fanaticism  of  its  own. 

Even  geography,  which  Napoleon  had  hitherto 
made  minister  to  his  successes,  was  now  against 
him.  The  country  was  poor,  the  roads  were  ex- 
ecrable, the  mountains  ran  in  the  wrong  direc- 
tion, right  across  his  path,  the  rivers  also.  In 
between  these  successive  mountain  ranges,  in 
these  passes  and  valleys,  it  was  difficult  for  large 
armies,  such  as  Napoleon's  usually  were,  to  oper- 
ate. It  was  easy  for  mishaps  to  occur,  for  guerrilla 
bands  or  small  armies  to  cut  off  lines  of  com- 
munication, for  them  to  appear  in  front  and  in  the 
rear  at  the  same  time.  The  country  was  admi- 
rable for  the  defensive,  difficult  for  the  offensive. 
This  was  shown  early  in  the  war  when  General 
Dupont  was  caught  in  a  trap  and  obliged  to  ca- 
pitulate with  an  army  of  20,000  at  Baylen  (July 
1808).  This  capitulation  produced  a  tremendous 
impression  throughout  Europe.  It  was  the  first 
time  a  French  army  corps  had  been  compelled 
to  ground  arms  in  full  campaign.  It  was  the 
heaviest  blow  Napoleon  had  yet  received  in  his 
career.  It  encouraged  the  Spaniards,  and  other 
peoples  also,  who  were  only  waiting  to  see  the 
conqueror  trip  and  who  were  now  fired  with 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  329 

hope  that  the  thing  might  be  done  again.  Na- 
poleon was  enraged,  stormed  against  the  unfor- 
tunate army,  declared  that  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  nothing  "  so  stupid,  so  silly,  so  cow- 
ardly" had  been  seen.  They  had  had  a  chance 
to  distinguish  themselves,  "they  might  have 
died,"  he  said.  Instead  they  had  surrendered. 

Joseph,  the  new  king,  who  had  been  in  his 
capital  only  a  week,  left  it  hurriedly  and  with- 
drew toward  the  Pyrenees,  writing  his  brother 
that  Spain  was  like  no  other  country,  that  they 
must  have  an  army  of  50,000  to  do  the  fighting, 
another  of  50,000  to  keep  open  the  line  of  com- 
munications, and  100,000  gallows  for  traitors  and 
scoundrels. 

There  was  another  feature  of  this  war  in  the 
Peninsula,  England's  participation.  An  army 
was  sent  out  under  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  later 
Duke  of  Wellington,  to  cooperate  with  the  Por- 
tuguese and  Spaniards.  Wellesley,  who  had  al- 
ready distinguished  himself  in  India,  now  began 
to  build  up  a  European  reputation  as  a  careful, 
original,  and  resourceful  commander.  Landing 
at  Lisbon,  the  expedition  shortly  forced  the 
French  commander  Junot  to  capitulate  at  Cintra 
(August  1808),  as  Dupont  had  been  forced  to 
in  the  preceding  month  at  Baylen. 

These  were  disasters  which  Napoleon  could 


330  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

not  allow  to  stand  unanswered.  His  prestige, 
his  reputation  for  invincibility  must  remain  un- 
diminished  or  Europe  generally  would  become 
restless,  with  what  result  no  one  could  foretell. 
He  resolved  therefore  to  go  to  Spain  himself  and 
show  the  Spaniards  and  all  other  peoples  how 
hopeless  it  was  to  oppose  him,  how  minor  and 
casual  defeats  of  his  subordinates  meant  nothing, 
how  his  own  mighty  blows  could  no  more  be 
parried  than  before.  But,  before  going,  he  wished 
to  make  quite  sure  of  the  general  European  situ- 
ation. He  arranged  therefore  for  an  interview 
at  Erfurt  in  the  center  of  Germany  with  his  ally, 
Alexander  of  Russia.  The  two  emperors  spent 
a  fortnight  discussing  their  plans,  examining 
every  phase  of  the  international  situation  (Sep- 
tember-October 1808).  This  Erfurt  Interview 
was  the  most  spectacular  episode  in  Napo- 
leon's career  as  a  diplomatist.  He  sought  to 
dazzle  Europe  with  his  might,  to  impress  the 
imaginations  of  men,  and  their  fears,  to  show  that 
the  Franco-Russian  alliance,  concluded  at  Tilsit 
the  year  before,  stood  taut  and  firm  and  could 
not  be  shaken.  All  the  kings  and  princes  of  Ger- 
many were  summoned  to  give  him,  their  "  Pro- 
tector," an  appropriate  and  glittering  setting. 
Napoleon  brought  with  him  the  best  theatrical 
troop  in  Europe,  the  company  of  the  Theatre 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  331 

Franqais,  and  they  played,  as  the  pretentious  ex- 
pression was,  to  "a  parterre  of  kings."  On  one 
occasion  when  Talma,  the  famous  tragedian,  re- 
cited the  words, 

"The  friendship  of  a  great  man 
Is  a  true  gift  of  the  gods," 

the  Czar  arose,  seized  Napoleon's  hand,  and  gave 
the  signal  for  applause.  Day  after  day  was  filled 
with  festivities,  dinners,  balls,  hunts,  reviews. 
The  gods  of  German  literature  and  learning, 
Goethe  and  Wieland,  paid  their  respects.  Mean- 
while the  two  allies  carefully  canvassed  the  situ- 
ation. In  general  the  Czar  was  cordial,  for  he 
saw  his  profit  in  the  alliance.  But  now  and  then 
a  little  rift  in  the  lute  appeared.  One  day,  as 
they  were  discussing,  Napoleon  became  angry, 
threw  his  hat  on  the  floor  and  stamped  upon  it. 
Alexander  merely  observed,  "  You  are  angry, 
I  am  stubborn.  With  me  anger  gains  nothing. 
Let's  talk,  let's  reason  together,  or  I  shall 
leave." 

The  result  of  the  interview  was  in  the  main 
satisfactory  enough  to  both.  The  accord  be- 
tween the  two  seemed  complete.  The  alliance  was 
renewed,  a  new  treaty  was  made,  which  was  to 
be  kept  secret  "  for  ten  years  at  least,"  and  now 
Napoleon  felt  free  to  direct  his  attention  to 
the  annoying  Spanish  problem,  resolved  to  end 


332  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

it  once  for  all.  Assembling  a  splendid  army 
of  200,000  men,  he  crossed  the  Pyrenees  and 
in  a  brief  campaign  of  a  month  he  swept 
aside  all  obstacles  with  comparative  ease,  and 
entered  Madrid  (December  1808).  There  he 
remained  a  few  weeks  sketching  the  institutions 
of  the  new  Spain  which  he  intended  to  create. 
It  would  certainly  have  been  a  far  more  rational 
and  enlightened  and  progressive  state  than  it 
ever  had  been  in  the  past.  He  declared  the  In- 
quisition, which  still  existed,  abolished;  also  the 
remains  of  the  feudal  system;  also  the  tariff 
boundaries  which  shut  off  province  from  prov- 
ince to  the  great  detriment  of  commerce.  He 
closed  two-thirds  of  the  monasteries,  which  were 
more  than  superabundant  in  this  orthodox 
land.  But,  just  as  no  individual  cares  to  be  re- 
formed under  the  compulsion  of  a  master,  so  the 
Spaniards  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  these 
modern  improvements  in  the  social  art,  imposed 
by  a  heretic  and  a  tyrant,  who  had  wantonly 
filched  their  throne  and  invaded  their  country. 
Napoleon  might  perhaps  have  established  his 
control  over  Spain  so  firmly  that  the  new  institu- 
tions might  have  struck  root,  despite  this  oppo- 
sition. But  time  was  necessary  and  time  was 
something  he  could  not  command.  In  Madrid 
only  a  month,  he  was  compelled  to  hurry  back 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  333 

to  France  because  of  alarming  news  that  reached 
him.     He  never  returned  to  Spain. 

Austria  had  thrown  down  the  gauntlet  again. 
It  was  entirely  natural  for  her  to  seek  at  the 
convenient  opportunity  to  avenge  the  humilia- 
tions she  had  repeatedly  endured  at  the  hands 
of  France,  to  recover  the  position  she  had  lost. 
Moreover  the  close  alliance  of  Russia  and  France 
and  Napoleon's  seizure  of  the  Spanish  crown 
filled  her  with  alarm.  If  Napoleon  was  capable 
of  treating  in  this  way  a  hitherto  submissive  ally, 
such  as  Spain  had  been,  what  might  he  not  do 
to  a  chronic  enemy  and  now  a  mere  neutral 
like  Austria,  particularly  as  the  latter  had  no- 
where to  look  for  support  since  Russia  had 
deserted  the  cause.  Moreover  Austria  had 
learned  something  from  her  disastrous  experi- 
ences; among  other  things  that  her  previous 
military  system  was  defective  in  that  it  made  no 
appeal  to  the  people,  to  national  sentiment.  Af- 
ter Austerlitz  the  army  was  reorganized  and  a 
great  militia  was  created  composed  of  all  men 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  twenty-five. 
A  promising  invigoration  of  the  national  con- 
sciousness began.  What  occasion  could  be  more 
convenient  for  paying  off  old  scores  and  regain- 
ing lost  ground  than  this,  with  Napoleon  weak- 
ened by  the  necessity  of  holding  down  a  spirited 


334  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

and  outraged  nation  like  the  Spanish,  resolved 
to  go  to  any  lengths,  and  by  the  necessity  of 
checking  or  crushing  the  English  in  Portugal? 

Under  the  influence  of  such  considerations  the 
war  party  gained  the  ascendency,  and  Austria, 
under  the  lead  of  Archduke  Charles,  brother  of 
the  Emperor  and  a  very  able  commander,  began 
a  war  in  the  spring  of  1809.  This  war,  which  Na- 
poleon did  not  seek,  from  which  he  had  nothing 
to  gain,  was  another  Austrian  mistake.  Austria 
should  have  allowed  more  time  for  the  full  de- 
velopment of  her  new  military  system  before 
running  perilous  risks  again. 

The  Austrians  paid  for  their  precipitancy. 
Napoleon  astonished  them  again  by  the  rapidity 
of  his  movements.  In  April,  1809,  he  fought 
them  in  Bavaria,  five  battles  in  five  days,  throw- 
ing them  back.  Then  he  advanced  down  the 
Danube,  entered  Vienna  without  difficulty  and 
crossed  the  river  to  the  northern  bank,  whither 
the  army  of  the  Archduke  had  withdrawn. 
There  Napoleon  fought  a  two  days'  battle  at 
Essling  (May  21-22).  The  fighting  was  furious, 
the  village  of  Essling  changing  hands  nine 
times.  Napoleon  was  seriously  checked.  He 
was  obliged  to  take  refuge  for  six  weeks  on  the 
Island  of  Lobau  in  the  Danube,  until  additional 
troops  were  brought  up  from  Italy,  and  from 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  335 

Germany.  Then,  when  his  army  was  sufficiently 
reinforced,  he  crossed  to  the  northern  bank  again 
and  fought  the  great  battle  of  Wagram  (July 
5-6).  He  was  victorious,  but  in  no  superlative 
sense  as  at  Austerlitz.  The  Archduke's  army 
retired  from  the  field  in  good  order.  The  losses 
had  been  heavy,  but  no  part  of  the  army  had  been 
captured,  none  of  the  flags  taken.  This  was  the 
last  victorious  campaign  fought  by  Napoleon. 
Even  in  it  he  had  won  his  victory  with  unac- 
customed difficulty.  His  army  was  of  inferior 
quality,  many  of  his  best  troops  being  detained 
by  the  inglorious  Spanish  adventure  and  the  new 
soldiers  proving  inferior  to  the  old  veterans. 
Moreover  he  was  encountering  an  opposition 
that  was  stronger  in  numbers,  because  of  the 
army  reforms  just  alluded  to,  while  opposing 
generals  were  learning  lessons  from  a  study  of 
his  methods  and  were  turning  them  against  him. 
Archduke  Charles,  for  instance,  revered  Na- 
poleon's genius,  but  he  now  fought  him  tooth 
and  nail  and  with  ability. 

After  Wagram,  Austria  again  made  peace  with 
Napoleon,  the  Peace  of  Vienna  or  of  Schon- 
brunn.  Austria  was  obliged  to  relinquish  exten- 
sive territories.  Galicia,  which  was  the  part  of 
Poland  she  had  acquired  in  the  famous  parti- 
tions, now  went — a  part  of  it  to  the  Grand  Duchy 


336  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

of  Warsaw,  a  part  of  it  to  Russia.  She  was  also 
forced  to  cede  to  France  Trieste,  Carniola,  and 
part  of  Carinthia  and  Croatia.  These  were  made 
into  the  Illyrian  Provinces,  which  were  declared 
imperial  territory,  although  not  formally  an- 
nexed to  France.  Austria  lost  4,000,000  sub- 
jects, nearly  a  sixth  of  all  that  she  possessed. 
She  lost  her  only  port  and  became  entirely  land- 
locked. 

Having  defeated  Austria  for  the  fourth  time, 
Napoleon  treated  Europe  to  one  of  those  swift 
transformation  scenes  of  which  he  was  fond 
as  showing  his  easy  and  incalculable  mastery 
of  the  situation.  He  contracted  a  marriage 
alliance  with  the  House  of  Hapsburg  which  he 
had  so  repeatedly  humbled,  one  of  the  proudest 
royal  houses  in  Europe.  He  had  long  considered 
the  advisability  of  a  divorce  from  Josephine,  as 
she  had  given  him  no  heir  and  as  the  stability  of 
the  system  he  had  erected  depended  upon  his 
having  one.  At  his  demand  the  Senate  dissolved 
his  marriage  with  Josephine,  and  the  ecclesi- 
astical court  in  Paris  was  even  more  accomodat- 
ing,  declaring  that  owing  to  some  irregularity 
the  marriage  had  never  taken  place  at  all.  Free 
thus  by  action  of  the  State  and  the  Church  he 
asked  the  Emperor  of  Austria  for  the  hand  of 
his  daughter,  the  Archduchess  Marie  Louise, 


THE  EMPIRE  AT  ITS  HEIGHT  337 

and  received  it.  This  political  marriage  was  con- 
sidered advantageous  on  both  sides.  It  seemed 
likely  to  prevent  any  further  trouble  between 
the  two  countries,  to  serve  as  a  protection  to 
Austria,  to  raise  Napoleon's  prestige  by  his  con- 
nection with  one  of  the  oldest  and  proudest 
reigning  houses  of  Europe,  and  to  insure  the 
continuance  of  the  regime  he  had  established 
with  such  display  of  genius.  Thus  only  seven- 
teen years  after  the  execution  of  Marie  Antoi- 
nette, another  Austrian  princess  sat  upon  the 
throne  of  France.  The  marriage  occurred  in 
1810  and  in  the  following  year  was  born  the  son 
for  whom  the  title  "  King  of  Rome  "  stood  ready. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF 
NAPOLEON 

NAPOLEON  was  now  at  the  zenith  of  his  power. 
He  ruled  directly  over  an  empire  that  was  far 
larger  than  the  former  Kingdom  of  France.  In 
1809  he  annexed  what  remained  of  the  Papal 
States  in  Italy,  together  with  the  incomparable 
city  of  Rome,  thus  ending,  for  the  time  at  least, 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.  In  1810  he 
forced  his  brother  Louis  to  abdicate  the  king- 
ship of  Holland,  which  country  was  now  incor- 
porated in  France.  He  also,  as  has  been  al- 
ready stated,  extended  the  empire  along  the 
northern  coasts  of  Germany  from  Holland  to 
Liibeck,  thus  controlling  Hamburg,  Bremen, 
and  the  mouths  of  the  important  German  rivers. 
Each  one  of  these  annexations  was  in  pursuance 
of  his  policy  of  the  continental  blockade,  closing 
so  much  more  of  the  coast-line  of  Europe  to  the 
commerce  of  England,  the  remaining  enemy 
which  he  now  expected  to  humble.  He  was  Em- 
peror of  a  state  that  had  130  departments.  He 
was  also  King  of  Italy,  a  state  in  the  north- 

338 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       339 

eastern  part  of  the  peninsula.  He  was 
Protector  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine, 
which  included  all  Germany  except  Prussia  and 
Austria,  a  confederation  which  had  been  en- 
larged since  its  formation  by  the  addition  of 
Westphalia  and  Saxony  and  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Warsaw,  extending,  therefore,  clear  up  to  Rus- 
sia. His  brother  Joseph  was  King  of  Spain,  his 
brother  Jerome  King  of  Westphalia,  his  brother- 
in-law  Murat  King  of  Naples.  All  were  mere  sat- 
ellites of  his,  receiving  and  executing  his  orders. 
Russia  was  his  willing  ally.  Prussia  and  Austria 
were  his  allies,  the  former  because  forced  to 
be,  the  latter  at  first  for  the  same  reason,  and 
later  because  she  saw  an  advantage  in  it.  No 
ruler  in  history  had  ever  dominated  so  much 
of  Europe.  This  supreme,  incomparable  pre- 
eminence had  been  won  by  his  sword,  supple- 
mented by  his  remarkable  statesmanship  and 
diplomacy. 

England  alone  remained  outside  the  pale,  Eng- 
land alone  had  not  been  brought  to  bend  the 
knee  to  the  great  conqueror.  Even  she  was 
breathing  heavily,  because  the  Continental  Sys- 
tem was  inflicting  terrible  damage  upon  her. 
Factories  were  being  forced  to  shut  down,  multi- 
tudes of  laborers  were  being  thrown  out  of  work 
or  were  receiving  starvation  wages,  riots  and 


340  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

other  evidences  of  unrest  and  even  desperation 
seemed  to  indicate  that  even  she  must  soon  come 
to  terms. 

But  this  vast  and  imposing  fabric  of  power 
rested  upon  uncertain  bases.  Built  up,  story 
upon  story,  by  this  highly  imaginative  and  able 
mind,  the  architect  left  out  of  reckoning  or  de- 
spised the  strains  and  stresses  to  which  it  was 
increasingly  subjected.  The  rapidity  with  which 
this  colossal  structure  fell  to  pieces  in  a  few 
years  shows  how  poorly  consolidated  it  was,  how 
rickety  and  precarious  its  foundations.  Even  a 
slight  analysis  will  reveal  numerous  and  fore- 
boding elements  of  weakness  beneath  all  this 
pomp  and  pageantry  of  power.  Erected  by  the 
genius  of  a  single  man  it  depended  solely  upon 
his  life  and  fortunes — and  fortune  is  notoriously 
fickle.  Built  up  by  war,  by  conquest,  it  was  nec- 
essarily environed  by  the  hatred  of  the  con- 
quered. With  every  advance,  every  annexation, 
it  annexed  additional  sources  of  discontent. 
Based  on  force,  it  could  only  be  maintained  by 
force.  There  could  be  and  there  was  in  all  this 
vast  extent  of  empire  no  common  loyalty  to  the 
Emperor.  Despotism,  and  Napoleon's  regime 
was  one  of  pitiless  despotism,  evoked  no  loyalty, 
only  obedience  based  on  fear.  Europe  has  al- 
ways refused  to  be  dominated  by  a  single  nation 


EUROPE   IN  1811 

1AT  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NAPOLEONS  POWER 


Empire  of  the  French  1         I  State*  allied  with  Napol 

I          I  Annexations  to  the  i 1 

I I      French  Empire  I I  States  under  Napoleonic 

U    Independent  States 


Long.    East     1O     of  Gn 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       341 

or  by  a  single  ruler.  It  has  run  the  risk  several 
times  in  its  history  of  passing  under  such  a  yoke, 
but  it  always  in  the  end  succeeded  in  escaping 
it.  Universal  dominion  is  an  anachronism.  The 
secret  of  Great  Britain's  hold  upon  many  of  the 
component  parts  of  her  empire  lies  in  the  fact 
that  she  allows  them  liberty  to  develop  their  own 
life  in  their  own  way.  But  such  a  conception 
was  utterly  beyond  Napoleon,  contrary  to  all 
his  instincts  and  convictions.  His  empire  meant 
the  negation  of  liberty  in  the  various  countries 
which  he  dominated,  France  included.  Na- 
poleon's conquests  necessarily  ranged  against 
him  this  powerful  and  unconquerable  spirit.  The 
more  conquests,  the  more  enemies,  only  waiting 
intently  for  the  moment  of  liberation,  scanning 
the  horizon  everywhere  for  the  first  sign  of 
weakness  which  to  them  would  be  the  harbinger 
of  hope.  This  they  found  in  Spain,  and  in  the 
Austrian  campaign  of  1809  in  which  the  ma- 
chinery of  military  conquest  had  creaked,  had 
worked  clumsily,  had  threatened  at  one  moment 
to  break  down. 

There  was  a  force  in  the  world  which  ran  di- 
rectly counter  to  Napoleon's  projects,  the  prin- 
ciple of  nationality.  Napoleon  despised  this  feel- 
ing, and  in  the  end  it  was  his  undoing.  He  might 
have  seen  that  it  had  been  the  strength  of  France 


342  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

a  few  years  earlier,  that  now  this  spirit  had  passed 
beyond  the  natural  boundaries  and  was  waking 
into  a  new  life,  was  nerving  to  a  new  vigor,  coun- 
tries like  Spain,  even  Austria  and,  most  con- 
spicuously, Prussia. 

Prussia  after  Jena  underwent  the  most  serious 
humiliation  a  nation  can  be  called  to  endure. 
For  several  years  she  was  under  the  iron  heel  of 
Napoleon,  who  kept  large  armies  quartered  on 
her  soil,  who  drained  her  resources,  who  inter- 
fered peremptorily  in  the  management  of  her 
government,  who  forbade  her  to  have  more  than 
42,000  soldiers  in  her  army.  But  out  of  the  very 
depths  of  this  national  degradation  came  Prus- 
sia's salvation.  Her  noblest  spirits  were  aroused 
to  seek  the  causes  of  this  unexpected  and  im- 
measurable national  calamity  and  to  try  to  rem- 
edy them.  From  1808  to  1812  Prussians,  under 
the  very  scrutiny  of  Napoleon,  who  had  eyes  but 
did  not  see,  worked  passionately  upon  the  prob- 
lem of  national  regeneration.  The  result  sur- 
passed belief.  A  tremendous  national  patriotism 
was  aroused  by  the  poets  and  thinkers,  the 
philosophers  and  teachers,  all  bending  their  ener- 
gies to  the  task  of  quickening  among  the  youth 
the  spirit  of  unselfish  devotion  to  the  fatherland. 
An  electric  current  of  enthusiasm,  of  idealism, 
swept  through  the  educational  centers  and 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       343 

through  large  masses  of  the  people.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin,  founded  in  1809,  in  Prussia's 
darkest  hour,  was,  from  the  beginning,  a  dy- 
namic force.  It  and  other  universities  became 
nurseries  of  patriotism. 

Prussia  underwent  regeneration  in  other  ways. 
Particularly  memorable  was  the  work  of  two 
statesmen,  Stein  and  Hardenberg.  Stein,  in  con- 
sidering the  causes  of  Prussia's  unexampled 
woes,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  lay  in 
her  defective  or  harmful  social  and  legal  institu- 
tions. The  masses  of  Prussia  were  serfs,  bound 
to  the  soil,  their  personal  liberty  gravely  re- 
stricted, and,  as  Stein  said,  "  patriots  cannot  be 
made  out  of  serfs."  He  persuaded  the  King  to 
issue  an  edict  of  emancipation,  abolishing  serf- 
dom. The  Prussian  king,  he  said,  was  no  longer 
"  the  king  of  slaves,  but  of  free  men."  Many 
other  reforms  were  passed  abolishing  or  reduc- 
ing class  distinctions  and  privileges.  In  all  this 
Stein  was  largely  imitating  the  French  Revolu- 
tionists who  by  their  epoch-making  reforms  had 
released  the  energies  of  the  French  so  that  their 
power  had  been  vastly  multiplied.  The  army, 
too,  was  reorganized,  opportunity  was  opened 
to  talent,  as  in  France,  with  what  magical 
results  we  have  seen.  As  Napoleon  forbade  that 
the  Prussian  army  should  number  more  than 


344  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

42,000  men,  the  ingenious  device  was  hit  upon 
of  having  men  serve  with  the  colors  only  a  brief 
time,  long  enough  to  learn  the  essentials  of  the 
soldier's  life.  Then  they  would  pass  into  the 
reserve  and  others  would  be  put  rapidly  through 
the  same  training.  By  this  method  several  times 
42,000  men  received  a  military  training  whose 
effectiveness  was  later  to  be  proved. 

Thus  Prussia's  regeneration  went  on.  The 
new  national  spirit,  wonderfully  invigorated, 
waited  with  impatience  for  its  hour  of  probation. 
It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  these  reforms, 
which  resembled  in  many  respects  those  accom- 
plished in  France  by  the  Constituent  Assembly 
and  the  Convention,  and  which  were  in  fact  sug- 
gested by  them,  rested,  however,  on  very  differ- 
ent principles.  There  was  in  Prussia  no  asser- 
tion of  the  Rights  of  Man,  no  proclamation  of  the 
people  as  sovereign.  In  Prussia  it  was  the  king 
who  made  the  reforms,  not  the  people.  The 
theory  of  the  divine  right  of  the  monarch  was 
not  touched,  but  was  maintained  as  sacred  as 
ever.  There  was  reform  in  Prussia  but  no  rev- 
olution. Prussia  took  no  step  toward  democ- 
racy. This  distinction  has  colored  the  whole 
subsequent  history  of  that  kingdom  and  colors 
it  today.  "Everything  for  the  people,  nothing 
by  the  people,"  was  evidently  the  underlying 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       345 

principle  in  this  work  of  national  reorganization. 
Even  these  reforms  were  not  carried  out  com- 
pletely, owing  to  opposition  from  within  the 
kingdom  and  from  without.  But,  though  incom- 
plete, they  were  very  vitalizing. 

Napoleon's  policies  had  created  other  enmities 
in  abundance  which  were  mining  the  ground  be- 
neath him.  His  treatment  of  the  Pope,  whom  he 
held  as  a  prisoner  and  whose  temporal  power  he 
had  abolished  by  incorporating  his  states,  a  part 
in  the  French  Empire  and  a  part  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Italy,  made  the  Catholic  clergy  everywhere 
hostile,  and  offended  the  faithful.  Rome,  hith- 
erto the  papal  capital,  was  declared  the  second 
city  of  the  Empire  and  served  as  a  title  for  Na- 
poleon's son.  All  rights  of  the  Pope  were  thus 
cavalierly  ignored.  The  subtle  and  vast  influ- 
ence of  the  church  was  of  course  now  directed 
to  the  debasement  of  the  man  it  had  previously 
conspicuously  favored  and  praised.  In  addition 
to  combating  the  rising  tide  of  nationality,  Na- 
poleon henceforth  also  had  his  quarrel  with  the 
Papacy. 

Into  these  entanglements  he  had  been  brought 
by  the  necessities  of  his  conflict  with  England, 
by  the  continental  blockade.  For  it  was  that 
system  that  drove  him  on  from  one  aggression 
to  another,  from  annexation  to  annexation. 


346  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

That  system,  too,  created  profound  discontent 
in  all  the  countries  of  the  continent,  including 
France  itself.  By  enormously  raising  the  price 
of  such  necessaries  as  cotton  and  sugar  and  cof- 
fee and  tea,  products  of  Britain's  colonies  or  of 
the  tropical  countries  with  which  she  traded, 
they  introduced  hardship  and  irritation  into 
every  home.  The  normal  course  of  business  was 
turned  inside  out  and  men  suddenly  found  their 
livelihood  gone  and  ruin  threatening  or  already 
upon  them.  To  get  the  commodities  to  which 
they  were  accustomed  they  smuggled  on  a  large 
and  desperate  scale.  This  led  to  new  and  severe 
regulations  and  harsher  punishments,  and  thus 
the  tyrannical  interference  in  their  private  lives 
made  multitudes  in  every  country  hate  the 
tyranny  and  long  for  its  overthrow.  Widespread 
economic  suffering  was  the  inevitable  result  of 
the  continental  system  and  did  more  to  make 
Napoleon's  rule  unpopular  throughout  Europe 
than  did  anything  else  except  the  enormous 
waste  of  life  occasioned  by  the  incessant  warfare. 
That  system,  too,  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  rup- 
ture of  the  alliance  between  Russia  and  France,  in 
1812,  a  rupture  which  led  to  appalling  disaster 
for  Napoleon  and  was  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
The  whole  stupendous  superstructure  of  Na- 
poleonic statecraft  and  diplomacy  fell  like  a 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       347 

house  of  cards  in  the  three  years  1812,  1813,  and 
1814. 

The  Franco-Russian  alliance,  concluded  so 
hastily  and  unexpectedly  at  Tilsit  in  1807,  lasted 
nominally  nearly  five  years.  It  was,  however,  un- 
popular from  the  beginning  with  certain  influen- 
tial classes  in  Russia  and  its  inconveniences  be- 
came increasingly  apparent.  The  aristocracy  of 
Russia,  a  powerful  body,  hated  this  alliance  with 
a  country  which  had  abolished  its  own  nobility, 
leaving  its  members  impoverished  by  the  loss  of 
their  lands  and  privileges.  There  could  be  no 
sympathy  between  the  Russian  nobility,  based 
upon  the  grinding  serfdom  of  the  masses,  and 
the  country  which  had  swept  all  traces  of  feudal- 
ism aside  and  proclaimed  the  equality  of  men. 
Moreover  the  Russian  nobility  hated  the  con- 
tinental system,  as  it  nearly  destroyed  the  com- 
merce with  England  in  wheat,  flax,  and  timber, 
which  was  the  chief  source  of  their  wealth.  Fur- 
thermore, the  Czar  Alexander  I,  having  obtained 
some  of  the  advantages  he  had  expected  from  his 
alliance,  was  irritated,  now  that  he  did  not  ob- 
tain others  for  which  he  had  hoped.  He  had 
gained  Finland  from  Sweden  and  the  Danubian 
Principalities  from  Turkey,  but  the  vague  though 
alluring  prospect  of  a  division  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  still  remained  unfulfilled  and  was,  in- 


348  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

deed,  receding  into  the  limbo  of  the  unlikely. 
He  wanted  Constantinople,  and  Napoleon  made 
it  clear  he  could  never  have  it.  Moreover  Alex- 
ander was  alarmed  by  Napoleon's  schemes  with 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  a  state  made  out 
of  the  Polish  provinces  which  had  been  ac- 
quired by  Prussia  and  Austria.  Alexander  had 
no  objection  to  Prussia  and  Austria  losing  their 
Polish  provinces,  but  he  himself  had  Polish  prov- 
inces and  he  dreaded  anything  that  looked  like 
a  resurrection  of  the  former  Kingdom  of  Poland, 
any  appeal  to  the  Polish  national  feeling. 

But  the  main  cause  of  Alexander's  gradual 
alienation  from  his  ally  was  the  continental 
blockade.  This  was  working  great  financial  loss 
to  Russia.  Moreover  its  inconveniences  were 
coming  home  to  him  in  other  ways.  To  enforce 
the  system  more  completely  in  Germany  Na- 
poleon seized  in  1811  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Old- 
enburg, which  belonged  to  Alexander's  brother- 
in-law. 

Thus  the  alliance  was  being  subjected  to  a 
strain  it  could  not  stand.  In  1812  it  snapped, 
and  loud  was  the  report.  Napoleon  would  not 
allow  any  breach  of  the  continental  blockade  if 
he  could  prevent  it.  He  resolved  to  force  Rus- 
sia, as  he  had  forced  the  rest  of  the  continent, 
to  do  his  bidding.  He  demanded  that  she  live 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       349 

up  to  her  promises  and  exclude  British  com- 
merce. The  answers  were  evasive,  unsatisfac- 
tory, and  in  June,  1812,  Napoleon  crossed  the 
Niemen  with  the  largest  army  he  ever  com- 
manded, over  half  a  million  men,  the  "army  of 
twenty  nations,"  as  the  Russians  called  it. 
About  one-half  were  French.  The  rest  were  a 
motley  host  of  Italians,  Danes,  Croatians,  Dal- 
matians, Poles,  Dutchmen,  Westphalians,  Sax- 
ons, Bavarians,  Wiirtembergers,  and  still  others. 
For  the  first  time  in  his  military  career  Napoleon 
commanded  the  cooperation  of  Austria  and  Prus- 
sia, both  of  which  were  compelled  to  send  con- 
tingents. There  were  100,000  cavalry  and  a  nu- 
merous and  powerful  artillery.  He  had  around 
him  a  brilliant  staff  of  officers,  Murat,  Ney, 
Eugene  Beauharnais,  and  others.  It  seemed  as 
if  no  power  on  earth  could  resist  such  an  engine 
of  destruction.  Napoleon  himself  spoke  of  the 
expedition  as  the  "  last  act "  of  the  play. 

It  was  not  quite  that,  but  it  was  a  supremely 
important  act,  one  full  of  surprises.  From  the 
very  start  it  was  seen  that  in  numbers  there  is 
sometimes  weakness,  not  strength.  This  vast 
machine  speedily  commenced  to  give  way  beneath 
its  own  weight.  The  army  had  not  advanced  five 
days  before  the  commissary  department  began  to 
break  down  and  bread  was  lacking.  Horses,  im- 


350  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

properly  nourished,  died  by  the  thousands,  thus 
still  further  demoralizing  the  commissariat  and 
imperiling  the  artillery.  The  Russians  adopted 
the  policy  of  not  fighting  but  constantly  retreat- 
ing, luring  the  enemy  farther  and  farther  into 
a  country  which  they  took  the  pains  to  devastate 
as  they  retired,  leaving  no  provisions  or  supplies 
for  the  invaders,  no  stations  for  the  incapaci- 
tated, as  they  burned  their  villages  on  leaving 
them.  Napoleon  seeking  above  everything  a 
battle,  in  which  he  hoped  to  crush  the  enemy, 
was  denied  the  opportunity.  The  Russians  had 
studied  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  methods  in 
Portugal  and  profited  by  their  study.  It  was 
700  miles  from  the  Niemen  to  Moscow.  Na- 
poleon had  had  no  intention  of  going  so  far, 
but  the  tactics  of  his  enemy  forced  him  steadily 
to  proceed.  The  Czar  had  announced  that  he 
would  retire  into  Asia  if  necessary,  rather  than 
sign  a  peace  with  his  enemy  on  the  sacred  soil  of 
Russia.  Napoleon  hoped  for  a  battle  at  Smo- 
lensk, but  only  succeeded  in  getting  a  rear-guard 
action  and  a  city  in  flames. 

This  policy  of  continual  retreat,  so  irritating 
to  the  French  Emperor,  was  equally  irritating  to 
the  Russian  people,  who  did  not  understand  the 
reason  and  who  clamored  for  a  change.  The 
Russians  therefore  took  up  a  strong  position  at 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       351 

Borodino  on  the  route  to  Moscow.  There  a  bat- 
tle occurred  on  September  7,  1812,  between  the 
French  army  of  125,000  men  and  the  Russian  of 
100,000.  The  battle  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  of 
the  whole  epoch.  The  French  lost  30,000,  the 
Russians  40,000  men.  Napoleon's  victory  was 
not  overwhelming,  probably  because  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  throw  in  the  Old  Guard. 
The  Russians  retreated  in  good  order,  leaving 
the  road  open  to  Moscow,  which  city  Napoleon 
entered  September  14.  The  army  had  experi- 
enced terrible  hardships  all  the  way,  first  over 
roads  soaked  by  constant  rains,  then  later  over 
roads  intensely  heated  by  July  suns  and  giving 
forth  suffocating  clouds  of  dust.  Terrible  losses, 
thousands  a  day,  had  characterized  the  march  of 
700  miles  from  the  Niemen  to  Moscow. 

Napoleon  had  resolved  on  the  march  to  Mos- 
cow expecting  that  the  Russians  would  consent 
to  peace,  once  the  ancient  capital  was  in  danger. 
But  no  one  appeared  for  that  purpose.  He  found 
Moscow  practically  deserted,  only  15,000  there, 
out  of  a  population  of  250,000.  Moreover  the 
day  after  his  entry  fires  broke  out  in  various  parts 
of  the  city,  probably  set  by  Russians.  For  four 
days  the  fearful  conflagration  raged,  consuming 
a  large  part  of  the  city.  Still  Napoleon  stayed 
on,  week  after  week,  fearing  the  effect  that 


352  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

the  news  of  a  retreat  might  produce,  and 
hoping,  against  hope,  that  the  Czar  would 
sue  for  peace.  Finally  there  was  nothing 
to  do,  after  wasting  a  month  of  precious  time, 
but  to  order  the  retreat.  This  was  a  long-drawn- 
out  agony,  during  which  an  army  of  100,000  men 
was  reduced  to  a  few  paltry  thousands,  fretted 
all  along  the  route  by  which  they  had  come  by 
Russian  armies  and  by  Cossack  guerrilla  bands, 
horrified  by  the  sight  of  thousands  of  their  com- 
rades still  unburied  on  the  battlefield  of  Boro- 
dino, suffering  indescribable  hardships  of  hun- 
ger and  exhaustion  and  finally  caught  in  all  the 
horrors  of  a  fierce  Russian  winter,  clad,  as  many 
of  them  were,  lightly  for  a  summer  campaign. 
The  scenes  that  accompanied  this  flight  and  rout 
were  of  unutterable  woe,  culminating  in  the  hid- 
eous tragedy  of  the  crossing  of  the  Beresina,  the 
bridge  breaking  down  under  the  wild  confusion 
of  men  fighting  to  get  across,  horses  frightened, 
the  way  blocked  by  carts  and  wagons,  the 
bridges  raked  by  the  fire  of  the  Russian  artillery. 
Thousands  were  left  behind,  many  fell  or  threw 
themselves  into  the  icy  river  and  were  frozen 
to  death.  In  the  river,  says  one  writer,  when 
the  Russians  came  up  later  they  saw  "  awful 
heaps  of  drowned  soldiers,  women,  and  children, 
emerging  above  the  surface  of  the  waters,  and 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       353 

here  and  there  rigid  in  death  like  statues  on 
their  ice-bound  horses."  A  few  thousand  out  of 
all  the  army  finally  got  out  of  Russia  and  across 
the  Niemen.  Many  could  only  crawl  to  the  hos- 
pitals asking  for  "  the  rooms  where  people 
die."  History  has  few  ghastlier  pages  in  all  its 
annals.  Napoleon  himself  left  the  army  on  De- 
cember 5th,  and  traveled  rapidly  incognito  to 
Paris,  which  he  reached  on  the  i8th.  "  I  shall 
be  back  on  the  Niemen  in  the  spring,"  was  the 
statement  with  which  he  tried  to  make  men 
think  that  the  lost  position  would  be  soon  re- 
covered. 

He  did  not  quite  keep  the  promise.  He  did  not 
get  as  far  back  again  as  the  Niemen.  But  1813 
saw  him  battling  for  his  supremacy  in  Germany, 
as  1812  had  seen  him  battling  for  it  in  Russia. 
The  Russian  disaster  had  sent  a  thrill  of  hope 
through  the  ranks  of  his  enemies  everywhere. 
The  colossus  might  be,  indeed  appeared  to  be, 
falling.  Had  not  the  auspicious  moment  arrived 
for  annihilating  him?  Particularly  violent  was 
the  hatred  of  the  Prussians,  who  had,  more  than 
other  peoples,  felt  the  ruthlessness  of  his  tyranny 
for  the  last  six  years.  They  trembled  with  eager- 
ness to  be  let  loose  and  when  their  King  made  a 
treaty  of  alliance  with  Russia  and  subsequently 
made  a  more  direct  and  personal  appeal  to  his 


354  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

people  than  any  Prussian  monarch  had  ever 
made  before,  they  responded  enthusiastically. 
There  was  a  significant  feature  about  this  Treaty 
of  Kalisch  with  Russia.  Russia  was  not  to  lay 
down  her  arms  against  Napoleon  until  Prussia 
had  recovered  an  area  equal  to  that  which  she 
had  possessed  before  the  battle  of  Jena.  But  the 
area  was  not  to  be  the  same,  for  Russia  was  to 
keep  Prussia's  Polish  provinces,  now  included  in 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  whose  doom  was 
decreed.  Prussia  should  have  compensation  in 
northern  Germany. 

Could  Napoleon  rely  on  the  Confederation  of 
the  Rhine  and  on  his  ally  Austria?  This  re- 
mained to  be  seen.  A  reverse  would  almost 
surely  cost  him  the  support  of  the  former  and 
the  neutrality  of  the  latter.  Their  loyalty 
would  be  proportioned  to  his  success.  There 
was  with  them  not  the  same  popular  wrath  as 
with  the  Prussians.  On  the  other  hand,  their 
princes  had  a  keen  eye  for  the  main  chance. 
Austria  surely  would  use  Napoleon's  necessities 
for  her  own  advantage.  The  princes  of  the 
Rhenish  Confederation  wished  to  retain  the  ad- 
vantages they  had  won  largely  through  their 
complaisant  cooperation  with  Napoleon  during 
recent  years.  Austria  wished  to  recover  advan- 
tages she  had  lost,  territory,  prestige,  badly 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       355 

tattered  and  torn  by  four  unsuccessful  cam- 
paigns. 

Napoleon,  working  feverishly  since  the  return 
from  Russia,  finally  got  an  army  of  over  200,000 
men  together.  But  to  do  this  he  had  to  draw 
upon  the  youth  of  France,  as  never  before,  call- 
ing out  recruits  a  year  before  their  time  for  serv- 
'ice  was  due.  A  large  part  of  them  were  un- 
trained, and  had  to  get  their  training  on  the 
march  into  Germany.  The  army  was  weak  in 
cavalry,  a  decisive  instrument  in  following  up  a 
victory  and  clinching  it. 

Napoleon  was  back  in  central  Germany  before 
the  Russians  and  Prussians  were  fully  prepared. 
He  defeated  them  at  Liitzen  and  at  Bautzen  in 
May,  1813,  but  was  unable  to  follow  up  his  vic- 
tories because  of  the  lack  of  sufficient  cavalry, 
and  the  campaign  convinced  him  that  he  could 
accomplish  nothing  decisive  without  reinforce- 
ments. He  therefore  agreed,  in  an  unlucky  mo- 
ment, as  it  later  proved,  to  a  six  weeks'  armistice. 
During  that  time  he  did  get  large  reinforcements 
but  his  enemies  got  larger.  And  during  that  in- 
terval the  diplomatic  intriguing  went  against 
him  so  that  when  the  armistice  was  over  Austria 
had  joined  the  alliance  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
England,  against  him.  He  defeated  the  Aus- 
trians  at  Dresden  (August  26-27),  his  last  great 


356  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

victory.  His  subordinates  were,  however,  beaten 
in  subsidiary  engagements  and  he  was  driven 
back  upon  Leipsic.  There  occurred  a  decisive 
three  days'  battle,  the  "  Battle  of  the  Nations,"  as 
the  Germans  call  it  (October  16-18).  In  point 
of  numbers  involved  this  was  the  greatest  bat- 
tle of  the  Napoleonic  era.  Over  half  a  million 
men  took  part,  at  most  200,000  under  Napoleon, 
300,000  under  the  commanders  of  the  allies.  Na- 
poleon was  disastrously  defeated  and  was  sent 
flying  back  across  the  Rhine  with  only  a  small 
remnant  of  his  army.  The  whole  political  struc- 
ture which  he  had  built  up  in  Germany  collapsed. 
The  members  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine 
deserted  the  falling  star,  and  entered  the  alliance 
against  him,  on  the  guarantee  of  their  posses- 
sions by  the  allies.  Jerome  fled  from  West- 
phalia and  his  brief  kingdom  disappeared. 
Meanwhile  Wellington,  who  for  years  had  been 
aiding  the  Spaniards,  had  been  successful  and 
was  crossing  the  Pyrenees  into  southern  France. 
The  coils  were  closing  in  upon  the  lion,  who  now 
stood  at  bay. 

The  allies  moved  on  after  the  retreating 
French  toward  the  Rhine.  It  had  been  no  part 
of  their  original  purpose  to  demand  Napoleon's 
abdication.  They  now,  in  November  1813,  of- 
fered him  peace  on  the  basis  of  the  natural 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       357V 

frontiers  of  France,  the  Rhine,  the  Alps,  and  the 
Pyrenees.  He  would  not  accept  but  procrasti- 
nated, and  made  counter-propositions.  Even  in 
February  1814  he  could  have  retained  his  throne 
and  the  historic  boundaries  of  the  old  Bourbon 
monarchy,  had  he  been  willing  to  renounce  the 
rest.  He  dallied  with  the  suggestion,  secretly 
hoping  for  some  turn  in  luck  that  would  spring 
the  coalition  apart  and  enable  him  to  recover  the 
ground  he  had  lost.  In  thus  refusing  to  recog- 
nize defeat,  refusing  to  accept  an  altered  situa- 
tion, he  did  great  harm  to  France  and  completed 
his  own  downfall.  His  stiff,  uncompromising, 
unyielding  temper  sealed  his  doom.  He  was  no 
longer  acting  as  the  wise  statesman,  responsible 
for  the  welfare  of  a  great  people  who,  by  their 
unstinted  sacrifices,  had  put  him  under  heavy 
obligations.  His  was  the  spirit  of  the  gambler, 
thinking  to  win  all  by  a  happy  turn  of  the  cards. 
He  was  also  will  incarnate.  With  will  and  luck 
all  might  yet  be  retrieved. 

He  had  said,  on  leaving  Germany,  "  I  shall  be 
back  in  May  with  250,000  men."  He  did  not  ex- 
pect a  winter  campaign  and  he  felt  confident  that 
by  May  he  could  have  another  army.  The  allies, 
however,  did  not  wait  for  May,  but  at  the  close  of 
December  1813  streamed  across  the  Rhine  and 
invaded  France  from  various  directions.  France, 


358  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

victorious  for  eighteen  years,  now  experienced 
what  she  had  so  often  administered  to  others. 
The  campaign  was  brief,  only  two  months,  Feb- 
ruary and  March  1814.  Napoleon  was  hope- 
lessly outnumbered.  Yet  this  has  been  called 
the  most  brilliant  of  his  campaigns.  Fighting  on 
the  defensive  and  on  inner  lines,  he  showed  mar- 
velous mastery  of  the  art  of  war,  striking  here, 
striking  there  with  great  precision  and  swiftness, 
undaunted,  resourceful,  tireless.  The  allies 
needed  every  bit  of  their  overwhelming  superior- 
ity in  numbers  to  compass  the  end  of  their  re- 
doubtable antagonist,  with  his  back  against  the 
wall  and  his  brain  working  with  matchless  lucid- 
ity and  with  lightning-like  rapidity.  They 
thought  they  could  get  to  his  capital  in  a  week. 
It  took  them  two  months.  However,  there  could 
be  but  one  end  to  such  a  campaign,  if  the  allies 
held  together,  as  they  did.  On  the  3Oth  of  March 
Paris  capitulated  and  on  the  following  day  the 
Czar  Alexander  and  Frederick  William  III,  the 
King  of  Prussia,  made  their  formal  entry  into  the 
city  which  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  twenty-two 
years  before  had  threatened  with  destruction  if 
it  laid  sacrilegious  hands  upon  the  King  or 
Queen.  Since  that  day  much  water  had  flowed 
under  the  bridge,  and  France  and  Europe  had 
had  a  strange  history,  signifying  much. 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       359 

The  victors  would  not  longer  tolerate  Na- 
poleon. He  was  forced  to  abdicate  uncondition- 
ally. He  was  allowed  to  retain  his  title  of  Em- 
peror, but  henceforth  he  was  to  rule  only  over 
Elba,  an  island  nineteen  miles  long  and  six  miles 
wide,  lying  off  the  coast  of  Tuscany,  whence  his 
Italian  ancestors  had  sailed  for  Corsica  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half  before  he  was  born.  Thither 
he  repaired,  having  said  farewell  to  the  Old 
Guard  in  the  courtyard  of  the  palace  of  Fontaine- 
bleau,  kissing  the  flag  of  France  made  lustrous 
on  a  hundred  fields.  "  Nothing  but  sobbing  was 
heard  in  all  the  ranks,"  wrote  one  of  the  soldiers 
who  saw  the  scene,  "and  I  can  say  that  I  too 
shed  tears  when  I  saw  my  Emperor  depart."' 

On  the  day  that  Napoleon  abdicated,  the  Sen- 
ate, so-called  guardian  of  the  constitution,  ob- 
sequious and  servile  to  the  Emperor  in  his  days 
of  fortune,  turned  to  salute  the  rising  sun,  and 
in  solemn  session  proclaimed  Louis  XVIII  King 
of  France.  The  allies,  who  had  conquered  Na- 
poleon and  banished  him  to  a  petty  island  in  the 
Mediterranean,  thought  they  were  done  with  him 
for  good  and  all.  But  from  this  complacent 
self-assurance  they  were  destined  to  a  rude 
awakening.  Their  own  errors  and  wranglings 
at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  whither  they  repaired 
in  September  1814  to  divide  the  spoils  and  de- 


360  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

termine  the  future  organization  of  Europe,  and 
the  mistakes  and  indiscretions  of  the  Bourbons 
whom  they  restored  to  rule  in  France,  gave  Na- 
poleon the  opportunity  for  the  most  audacious 
and  wonderful  adventure  of  his  life. 

Louis  XVIII,  the  new  king,  tried  to  adapt  him- 
self to  the  greatly  altered  circumstances  of  the 
country  to  which  he  now  returned  in  the  wake  of 
foreign  armies  after  an  absence  of  twenty-two 
years.  He  saw  that  he  could  not  be  an  absolute 
king  as  his  ancestors  had  been,  and  he  therefore 
granted  a  Charter  to  the  French,  giving  them 
a  legislature  and  guaranteeing  certain  rights 
which  they  had  won  and  which  he  saw  could  not 
safely  be  withdrawn.  His  regime  assured  much 
larger  liberty  than  France  had  ever  experienced 
under  Napoleon.  Nevertheless  certain  attitudes 
of  his  and  ways  of  speaking,  and  the  actions  of 
the  royalists  who  surrounded  him,  and  several 
unwise  measures  of  government,  soon  rendered 
him  unpopular  and  irritated  and  alarmed  the 
people.  He  spoke  of  himself  as  King  by  the 
grace  of  God,  thus  denying  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people;  he  dated  his  first  document,  the 
Charter,  from  "  the  nineteenth  year  of  my  reign," 
as  if  there  had  never  been  a  Republic  and  a  Na- 
poleonic Empire;  he  restored  the  white  flag  and 
banished  the  glorious  tricolor  which  had  been  car- 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       361 

ried  in  triumph  throughout  Europe.  What  was 
much  more  serious,  he  offended  thousands  of  Na- 
poleon's army  officers  by  retiring  or  putting  them 
on  half-pay,  many  thus  being  reduced  to  desti- 
tution, and  all  feeling  themselves  dishonored. 
Moreover  many  former  nobles  who  had  early 
in  the  Revolution  emigrated  from  France  and 
then  fought  against  her  received  honors  and 
distinctions.  Then,  in  addition,  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  and  the  nobles  of  the  court 
talked  loudly  and  unwisely  about  getting  back 
their  lands  which  had  been  confiscated  and 
sold  to  the  peasants,  although  both  the  Con- 
cordat of  1802  and  the  Charter  of  1814  dis- 
tinctly recognized  and  ratified  these  changes 
and  promised  that  they  should  not  be  dis- 
turbed. The  peasants  were  far  and  away  the 
most  numerous  class  in  France,  and  they  were 
thus  early  alienated  from  the  Bourbons  by  these 
threats  at  their  most  vital  interest,  their  property 
rights,  which  Napoleon  had  always  stoutly  main- 
tained. Thus  a  few  months  after  Napoleon's  ab- 
dication the  evils  of  his  reign  were  forgotten, 
the  terrible  cost  in  human  life,  the  burdensome 
taxation,  the  tyranny  of  it  all,  and  he  was  looked 
upon  as  a  friend,  as  a  hero  to  whom  the  soldiers 
had  owed  glory  and  repute  and  the  peasants  the 
secure  possession  of  their  farms.  In  this  way  a 


362  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

mental  atmosphere  hostile  to  Louis  XVIII,  and 
favorable  to  Napoleon,  was  created  by  a  few 
months  of  Bourbon  rule. 

Napoleon,  penned  up  in  his  little  island,  took 
note  of  all  this.  He  also  heard  of  the  serious  dis- 
sensions of  the  allies  now  that  they  were  trying 
to  divide  the  spoils  at  Vienna,  of  their  jealousies 
and  animosities,  which,  in  January  1815,  rose 
to  such  a  pitch  that  Austria,  France,  and  Eng- 
land prepared  to  go  to  war  with  Prussia  and 
Russia  over  the  allotment  of  the  booty.  He  also 
knew  that  they  were  intriguing  at  the  Congress 
for  his  banishment  to  some  place  remote  from 
Europe. 

For  ten  months  he  had  been  in  his  miniature 
kingdom.  The  psychological  moment  had  come 
for  the  most  dramatic  action  of  his  life.  Leav- 
ing the  island  with  twelve  hundred  guards,  and 
escaping  the  vigilance  of  the  British  cruisers,  he 
landed  at  Cannes  on  March  i.  That  night  he 
started  on  the  march  to  Paris  and  on  March  20 
entered  the  Tuileries,  ruler  of  France  once  more. 
The  return  from  Elba  will  always  remain  one 
of  the  most  romantic  episodes  of  history.  With  a 
force  so  small  that  it  could  easily  have  been  taken 
prisoner,  he  had  no  alternative  and  no  other  wish 
than  to  appeal  directly  to  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  Never  was  there  such  a  magnificent  re- 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       363 

sponse.  All  along  the  route  the  peasants  received 
him  enthusiastically.  But  his  appeal  was  par- 
ticularly to  the  army,  to  whom  he  issued  one  of 
his  stirring  bulletins.  "  Soldiers,"  it  began,  "  we 
have  not  been  conquered.  We  were  betrayed. 
Soldiers !  Come  and  range  yourselves  under  the 
banner  of  your  chief:  his  existence  depends 
wholly  on  yours:  his  interests,  his  honor,  and  his 
glory  are  your  interests,  your  honor,  your  glory. 
Come!  Victory  will  march  at  double-quick. 
The  eagle  with  the  national  colors  shall  fly  from 
steeple  to  steeple  to  the  towers  of  Notre  Dame. 
Then  you  will  be  able  to  show  your  scars  with 
honor:  then  you  will  be  able  to  boast  of  what  you 
have  done:  you  will  be  the  liberators  of  your 
country." 

Regiment  after  regiment  went  over  to  him. 
The  royalists  thought  he  would  be  arrested  at 
Grenoble,  where  there  was  a  detachment  of  the 
army  under  a  royalist  commander.  Napoleon 
went  straight  up  to  them,  threw  open  his  grey 
coat,  and  said,  "Here  I  am:  you  know  me.  If 
there  is  a  soldier  among  you  who  wishes  to 
shoot  his  Emperor,  he  can  do  it."  The  soldiers 
flocked  over  to  him,  tearing  off  the  white  cock- 
ades and  putting  on  the  tricolor,  which  they  had 
secretly  carried  in  their  knapsacks.  Opposition 
melted  away  all  along  the  route.  It  became  a 


364 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       365^ 

triumphant  procession.  When  lies  would  help 
Napoleon  told  them — among  others  that  it  was 
not  ambition  that  brought  him  back,  that  "the 
forty-five  best  heads  of  the  government  of  Paris 
have  called  me  from  Elba  and  my  return  is  sup- 
ported by  the  three  first  powers  of  Europe."  He 
admitted  that  he  had  made  mistakes  and  assured 
the  people  that  henceforth  he  desired  only  to 
follow  the  paths  of  peace  and  liberty.  He  had 
come  back  to  protect  the  threatened  blessings  of 
the  Revolution.  The  last  part  of  this  intoxicat- 
ing journey  he  made  in  a  carriage  attended  by 
only  a  half-dozen  Polish  lancers.  On  March  20 
Louis  XVIII  fled  from  the  Tuileries.  That 
evening  Napoleon  entered  it. 

"  What  was  the  happiest  period  of  your  life  as 
Emperor?"  some  one  asked  him  at  St.  Helena. 
"The  march  from  Cannes  to  Paris,"  he  instantly 
replied. 

His  happiness  was  limited  to  less  than  the 
"Hundred  Days"  which  this  period  of  his  reign 
is  called.  Attempting  to  reassure  France  and 
Europe,  he  met  from  the  former,  tired  of  war, 
only  half-hearted  support,  from  the  allies  only 
remorseless  opposition.  When  the  diplomats  at 
the  Congress  of  Vienna  heard  of  his  escape  from 
Elba  they  immediately  ceased  their  contentions 
and  banded  themselves  together  against  "this 


366  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

disturber  of  the  peace  of  Europe."  They  de- 
clared him  an  outlaw  and  set  their  armies  in  mo- 
tion. He  saw  that  he  must  fight  to  maintain 
himself.  He  resolved  to  attack  before  his  ene- 
mies had  time  to  effect  their  union.  The  battle- 
field was  in  Belgium,  as  Wellington  with  an 
army  of  English,  Dutch,  Belgians,  and  Germans, 
and,  at  some  distance  from  them,  Bliicher  with 
a  large  army  of  Prussians,  were  there.  If  Na- 
poleon could  prevent  their  union,  then  by  defeat- 
ing each  separately,  he  would  be  in  a  stronger 
position  when  the  Russian  and  Austrian  armies 
came  on.  Perhaps,  indeed,  they  would  think  it 
wiser  not  to  come  on  at  all  but  to  conclude  peace. 
In  Belgium  consequently  occurred  a  four  days' 
campaign  culminating  on  the  famous  field  of 
Waterloo,  twelve  miles  south  of  Brussels.  There 
on  a  hot  Sunday  in  June  Napoleon  was  disas- 
trously defeated  (June  18,  1815).  The  sun  of 
Austerlitz  set  forever.  The  battle,  begun  at  half- 
past  eleven  in  the  morning,  was  characterized  by 
prodigies  of  valor,  by  tremendous  charges  of 
cavalry  and  infantry  back  and  forth  over  a  sod- 
den field.  Wellington  held  his  position  hour 
after  hour  as  wave  after  wave  of  French  troops 
rushed  up  the  hill,  foaming  in  and  about  the  solid 
unflinching  British  squares,  then,  unable  to 
break  them,  foamed  back  again.  Wellington 


DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON       367 

held  on,  hoping,  looking  for  the  Prussians  under 
Bliicher,  who,  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  were 
eleven  miles  away.  They  had  promised  to  join 
him,  if  he  accepted  battle  there,  and  late  in  the 
afternoon  they  kept  the  promise.  Their  arrival 
was  decisive,  as  Napoleon  was  now  greatly  out- 
numbered. In  the  early  evening,  as  the  sun  was 
setting,  the  last  charge  of  the  French  was  re- 
pulsed. Repulse  soon  turned  into  a  rout  and  the 
demoralized  army  streamed  from  the  field  in 
utter  panic,  fiercely  pursued  by  the  Prussians. 
The  Emperor,  seeing  the  utter  annihilation  of 
his  army,  sought  death,  but  sought  in  vain.  "  I 
ought  to  have  died  at  Waterloo,"  he  said  later, 
"but  the  misfortune  is  that  when  a  man  seeks 
death  most  he  cannot  find  it.  Men  were  killed 
around  me,  before,  behind — everywhere.  But 
there  was  no  bullet  for  me."  He  fled  to  Paris, 
then  toward  the  western  coast  of  France  hoping 
to  escape  to  the  United  States,  but  the  English 
cruisers  off  the  shore  rendered  that  impossible. 
Making  the  best  of  necessity  he  threw  himself 
upon  the  generosity  of  the  British.  "I  have 
come,"  he  announced,  "like  Themistocles,  to 
seek  the  hospitality  of  the  British  nation."  In- 
stead of  receiving  it,  however,  he  was  sent  to 
a  rock  in  the  South  Atlantic,  the  island  of  St. 
Helena,  where  he  was  kept  under  a  petty  and 


368  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE 

ignoble  surveillance.  Six  years  later  he  died  of 
cancer  of  the  stomach  at  the  age  of  fifty-two, 
leaving  an  extraordinary  legend  behind  him  to 
disturb  the  future.  He  was  buried  under  a  slab 
that  bore  neither  name  nor  date,  and  it  was 
twenty  years  before  he  was  borne  to  his  final 
resting-place  under  the  dome  of  the  Invalides 
in  Paris,  although  in  his  last  will  and  testament 
he  said :  "  My  wish  is  to  be  buried  on  the  banks 
of  the  Seine  in  the  midst  of  the  French  people 
whom  I  have  loved  so  well." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abukir  Bay,  255,  257 

Acre,  256 

Acton,  Lord,  opinion  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  24 

Aiguillon,  Duke  d',  122 

Alexander  I  (Russia),  concludes 
Peace  of  Tilsit,  313-316;  and 
Napoleon  at  Erfurt,  33Q-33*  '> 
desires  to  break  the  Franco- 
Russian  alliance,  347-349;  en- 
ters Paris,  358 

Alexandria,  254-255 

Alfieri,  on  Italian  nationality,  15 

Alsace,  feudal  dues  in,  159-160, 
168 

America,  Seven  Years'  War  in, 
6,  7,  26;  revolt  of  the  English 
Colonies  in,  11-13;  as  model 
for  France,  133-134,  137,  221- 
222 

Amiens,  Peace  of  (1802),  273- 
274,  288,  297 

Antwerp,  296-297 

Archangel,  37 

Archives,  National,  227 

Arcola,  battle  of,  241 

Arrondissements,  140 

Artois,  Count  of,  and  the  Revo- 
lution, 124,  148,  157;  plots 
against  Bonaparte,  287 

Asia,  Seven  Years'  War  in,  6, 
26;  Russia  and,  33,  350 

Assembly.  See  National,  Con- 
stituent, and  Legislative 

assignats,  143-144 

Auerstadt,  battle  of,  311 

Augereau,  236,  276 

August  4,  1789,  121-123,  159; 
Louis  XVI  and  the  decrees  of, 
125-126 


August  10,  1792.  173-175,  233 

Aulard,  on  the  Convention,  181 ; 
on  Robespierre,  213 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  301-302, 
313,  335,  366;  results  of,  304- 
308,  323,  333 

Austria,  in  1789,  2,  16-19;  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  6,  27-28; 
and  Prussia,  18-19,  21,  24,  26, 
3i,  52-53,  244;  and  Poland,  31, 
53,  244;  and  Russia,  31,  53, 
244;  and  the  emigres,  156, 
168;  France  at  war  with,  168- 
173,  225-226,  229-230,  238-243; 
Prussia  aids,  against  France, 
172-173;  and  the  Treaty  of 
Campo  Formio,  246-247;  joins 
coalition  (second)  against 
France,  260,  271 ;  war  against, 
in  Italy  and  Germany,  271-273; 
joins  England  and  Russia  in 
coalition  (third)  against  Na- 
poleon, 299-302,  318;  signs 
Treaty  of  Pressburg,  302-303 ; 
not  included  in  the  Confedera- 
tion of  the  Rhine,  315,  339; 
and  the  Continental  Blockade, 
321 ;  begins  war  against  France 
(1809),  333-335;  makes  Peace 
of  Vienna  with  Napoleon,  335- 
337 ;  becomes  ally  of  Napo- 
leon, 339,  349;  development  of 
nationality  in,  342;  and  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw, 
348;  joins  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
England  against  Napoleon, 
355 ;  and  the  Congress  of  Vi- 
enna, 359-360,  362;  and  the 
Waterloo  Campaign,  366 

Austrian  Netherlands,  France  in 
possession  of,  225,  229.  See 
also  Belgium 


372 


INDEX 


Austrian  Succession,  wars  of 
(1740-1748),  26,  52 

B 

Baden,  16;  gains  of,  in  South 
Germany,  303 

Bailly,  116,  204 

Baltic  Provinces,  conquered  by 
Russia,  37 

Bank  of  France,  founded  by 
Bonaparte,  286 

Barnave,  205 

Bairas,  223-224 

Basel,  Treaty  of  (i?95),  225, 
229,  310 

Bastille,  86;  fall  of,  119-120,  129, 
148 

Batavian  Republic.    See  Holland 

Bautzen,  battle  of,  355 

Bavaria,  16 ;  Austria  sends  army 
into,  300;  gains  of,  in  south 
Germany,  303 ;  becomes  a 
kingdom,  303;  and  the  Con- 
federation of  the  Rhine,  308; 
Napoleon  fights  Austrians  in, 

334 

Baylen,  328,  329 

Bayonne,  324 

Beauharnais,  Eugene,  349 

Beauharnais,  Josephine.  See 
Josephine,  Empress 

Beaulieu,  239 

Belgium,  emigres  in,  148;  war 
in,  170,  229;  Austrian  posses- 
sions in,  ceded  to  France,  247 ; 
French  conquest  of,  274 ;  Code 
Napoleon  put  into  force  in, 
285;  England's  jealousy  of 
French  conquest  of,  296,  299; 
Napoleon  attacks  the  allies  in, 
366-367.  See  also  Austrian 
Netherlands 

Berg,  Murat  becomes  Duke  of, 
305 

Berlin,  war  party  in,  310-311; 
Napoleon  issues  decrees  from, 
312;  University  of,  founded, 
343 

Berlin  Decrees,  312,  319 

Berthier,  253,  258 


Bliicher,  366-367 

Bonaparte,  Caroline,  marries 
Murat,  305 

Bonaparte,  Charles,  230 

Bonaparte,  Elise,  becomes  Prin- 
cess of  Lucca,  and  Carrara, 
305 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  231,  305- 
306;  becomes  King  of  West- 
phalia, 315,  339;  flees  from 
Westphalia,  356 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  becomes 
King  of  Naples,  304,  323;  ab- 
dicates and  becomes  King  of 
Spain,  325,  329,  339 

Bonaparte,  Louis,  becomes  King 
of  Holland,  304;  refuses  to 
enforce  the  Continental  Block- 
ade, 322;  forced  to  abdicate, 
322,  338 

Bonaparte,  Lucien,  262,  264-266, 
305 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon.  See  Na- 
poleon 

Bonaparte,  Pauline,  becomes 
Duchess  of  Guastalla,  305 

Borodino,  battle  of,  351,  352 

Boulogne,  298,  300 

Bourbons,  banner  of  the,  120, 
360;  House  of,  in  France,  125, 
170;  overthrow  of,  in  France, 
168,  323 ;  monarchical  party 
desires  restoration  of,  168, 
220,  281 ;  centralization  of  gov- 
ernment under,  193,  271 ;  Eng- 
land and  the,  250;  Napoleon 
and  the,  275,  279,  288;  House 
of,  ceases  to  rule  in  Naples, 
304,  323 ;  House  of,  in  Spain, 
323-325 ;  restored  in  France, 
360-362 

Bourgeoisie,  in  France,  under 
Old  Regime,  80-82 

Bourrienne,  252,  264 

Braganza,  House  of.  See  Por- 
tugal 

Brandenburg.    See  Prussia 

Brazil,  323 

Bremen,  322,  338 

Breze,  de,  117 

Brienne,  231 


INDEX 


373 


British  Isles.    See  England 
Brumaire,    206;    the    i8th    and 

ipth,  263-265,  267 
Brunswick,     Duke     of,     issues 

manifesto,    172-173,    175,   358; 

leads    forces    against    France, 

177 
Buzot,  166 

C 

Cadoudal,  Georges,  287 

Caen,  190 

cahiers,  111-112,  135 

Cairo,  French  march  to,  254-255, 

257 

Calonne,  107-108 

Cambaceres,  269 

Campo  Formio,  Peace  of,  245- 
247,  250,  273,  296,  303,  306 

Canada,  acquisition  of,  by  Eng- 
land, 2,  7 

Cannes,  362,  365 

Carnot,  198 

Carrier,  201-202,  206 

Catherine  II  (1762-1796),  44-46, 
50,  53 

Catholic  Church  (Roman),  posi- 
tion of  the  clergy  of,  under 
the  Old  Regime,  72-76;  under 
Louis  XVI,  85 ;  Voltaire  and, 
85,  94-95;  clergy  of,  in  the 
States-General,  109-116;  atti- 
tude of  clergy  of,  toward  the 
National  Assembly,  1 18 ;  clergy 
of,  renounce  privileges,  122 ; 
Constituent  Assembly  and, 
142-147;  Civil  Constitution  of 
the  Clergy,  144-147,  154;  and 
state  separated,  226;  the  Bour- 
bons and,  279;  Bonaparte  and, 
279-283,  336,  345;  position  of, 
in  Germany  altered  by  Bona- 
parte, 307-308;  clergy  of,  in 
Spain  against  Napoleon,  327 ; 
clergy  of,  and  the  Bourbon 
restoration,  361 

Ceylon,  274 

Charles,  Archduke  of  Austria, 
242,  334-335 

Charles  IV    (Spain),  abdicates, 

324 


Charter  of  1814  (French),  360- 

361 
Chateaux,    war    upon    the,    121, 

148 

Chatham,  Earl  of.    See  Pitt 
Chaumette,  206 
Church.      See    Catholic    Church 

(Roman)  and  Orthodox  Greek 

Church 
Cintra,  329 
Cisalpine  Republic,  247;  becomes 

Kingdom  of  Italy  (1805),  294. 

See  Italy 
City     Council     of     Paris.      See 

Paris,     Revolutionary      Com- 
mune 

Civil  Code,  284 
Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy. 

See  Constitution 
Clement  XIV   (Pope),  30 
Clergy.     See    Catholic    Church 

(Roman) 

Code  Napoleon,  284 
Committee  of  General  Security, 

created,    187,    193;    work    of, 

195,  217 
Committee     of     Public     Safety, 

created,    187,    193;    work    of, 

194-217 

Commune  (Paris).    See  Paris 
"  Conclusion "    of   March,   1803, 

307 

Concordat  (1802),  280-281,  361 

Conde,  Prince  of.  See  Eng- 
hien,  Duke  d' 

Condorcet,  205 

Confederation  of  the  Rhine 
(1806),  formation  of,  308,  315, 
339,  354;  members  of,  desert 
Napoleon,  356 

Congress  of  Vienna,  359-360, 
362,  365 

Conservatory  of  Arts  and 
Crafts,  227 

Constantinople,  seat  of  Ortho- 
dox Greek  Church,  33 ;  Russia 
covets,  46,  348;  Napoleon's 
ambitions  for,  256 

Constituent  Assembly,  composi- 
tion and  character,  118,  153, 
205;  comes  to  Paris,  127-128; 


374 


INDEX 


and  the  making  of  the  Con- 
stitution, 129-151,  193,  344; 
and  the  German  princes,  160; 
and  the  codification  of  the 
laws,  284.  See  National  As- 
sembly 

Constitution,    demand    for,    112, 
116;   making  of  the,    129-151; 

of  1791,  I34-I4I,  152,  175,  iQif 

221,  270;  Civil,  of  the  Clergy, 
144-147,  154;  of  1793,  191-192, 
220;  of  7795  (Year  III),  221- 

222,  229,    261 ;    of    the    Year 
VIII   (/799),  268,  294 

Consulate  (1799-1804),  267-289 
Consuls,  265,  267-269.     See  also 

Consulate 
Continental  System,  318-322,  338- 

339,  345-349 
Convention      (France),     called, 

175-176;     work     of,     180-229, 

277,    284,    318,    344;    becomes 

prisoner     of     the     Commune, 

189;    Bonaparte    defends    the, 

224-225,  233 
Corday,    Charlotte,    and    Marat, 

204 

Cordelier  Club,  161-162 
Corsica,     Bonaparte     and,     230, 

232-233,  235,  259,  359 
corvee,  106 
Council  of  Elders,  221-223,  262- 

265 

Council  of  State,  269,  284-285 
Council   of   the   Five   Hundred, 

221-223,  262-265 

Counter-revolutionaries,  124,  147 
coup  d'etat,  262-263,  265,  268 
Courland,  37 
Couthon,  218 
Crimea,  Russia  gains,  45 
customary  laws,  64 


Dalmatia,  handed  over  to  Aus- 
tria, 247;  ceded  to  Napoleon, 
303 

Danton,  as  a  monarchist,  150; 
as  a  leader,  162,  198;  becomes 
head  of  the  provisional  ex- 


ecutive council,  176;  on  the 
importance  of  Paris,  182;  and 
the  Jacobins,  183 ;  as  peace- 
maker, 188-189;  dropped  from 
Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
193 ;  and  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal,  195 ;  and  Robes- 
pierre, 209-212,  213;  advocates 
moderation,  210 ;  fall  of,  212; 
on  education,  227 

Dantonists,  210 

Danubian  principalities,  347 

David,  215 

Davout,  311 

Dego,  238 

Denmark,  and  the  Continental 
Blockade,  321 

Departments,  of  France,  140- 
141 ;  civil  war  in,  190,  225 ; 
government  of,  under  the  con- 
sulate, 271 ;  .of  the  Empire,  338 

Desaix,  253,  272 

Desmoulins,  Camille,  210 

Diderot,  45,  89 

Diet,  German  (Imperial),  17,  160 

Directors.     See  Directory 

Directory,  composition  of,  222 ; 
work  of,  226,  229-266,  277,  284, 
318;  abolition  of,  265 

Dresden,  battle  of,  355 

Ducos,  becomes  Consul,  265 

Dumouriez,  187 

Dupont,  General,  328,  329 


Eastern  Question,  Russia  and,  46 

Education,  work  of  the  Conven- 
tion for,  227 ;  system  of  na- 
tional, reorganized,  286 

Egypt,  Napoleon  and,  251-256, 
258-260,  271,  280,  317;  French 
compelled  to  evacuate,  273 ; 
England  promises  to  evacuate, 
274 

Elba,  Napoleon  sent  to,  359;  his 
return  from,  362,  365 

Elders,  Council  of.  See  Council 
of  Elders 

Elizabeth  (1741-1762),  and  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  44 


INDEX 


375 


Emerson,  on  Napoleon,  291 

Emigres,  intrigues  of,  156-157, 
168,  172,  184;  many,  guillo- 
tined, 202 ;  laws  against,  re- 
laxed, 279 ;  Louis  XVIII's  pol- 
icy toward,  361 

Empire,  the,  274 ;  early  years  of, 
290-317;  at  its  height,  318-337; 
decline  and  fall  of,  338-368 

Empress  Josephine.  See  Jose- 
phine (Beauharnais),  Empress 

Enghien,  Duke  d',  288,  324 

England,  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
.  tury,  2-14,  47-48;  acquisition 
of  Canada  and  India  by, 
2,  7-9;  evolution  of  the  par- 
liamentary system  of  gov- 
ernment in,  3-6;  colonial  pol- 
icy of,  6;  in  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  6-8,  26;  territorial  gains 
by  Peace  of  Paris  (1763}, 
7-8;  and  the  American  Revo- 
lution, 11-13;  young  Russians 
sent  to,  37;  Montesquieu's 
opinion  of  the  government  of, 
91;  Rousseau  on  the  govern- 
ment of,  97 ;  influence  of  the 
government  of,  on  French 
Constitution,  133,  136-137;  at 
war  with  France,  187,  225-226, 
229,  250-260,  271,  273;  makes 
Peace  of  Amiens  with  France, 
273-274;  French  bishops  in, 
279;  Napoleon  and,  296-303, 
312,  314,  316,  318-323,  338-339, 
345-346;  issues  Orders  in 
Council,  319;  and  Portugal, 
320,  323,  334;  and  Spain,  329- 
333 ;  and  the  Congress  of  Vi- 
enna, 359-360,  362;  and  the 
Waterloo  Campaign,  366-367 

Equality,  Bonaparte  and  civil, 
275,  285,  293 

Erfurt  Interview  (1808),  330-331 

Essling,  battle  of,  334 

Esthonia,  37 

Europe,  Old  Regime  in,  1-54; 
Seven  Years'  War  in,  6,  26; 
emigres  eager  to  embroil,  with 
France,  148,  156,  158;  Treaty 
of  Campo  Formio  changes  the 


map  of,  246-247;  at  peace, 
274;  ascendency  of  France  in, 
295 ;  Napoleon  alters  diplo- 
matic system  of,  314;  and  the 
Continental  Blockade,  321,  345- 
349;  effect  of  capitulation  at 
Baylen  upon,  328;  Napoleon 
seeks  to  dazzle,  330;  Napoleon 
preeminent  in,  339-340;  Con- 

?ress    of    Vienna    determines 
uture    organization    of,    359- 
360,  362,  365-366 
Eylau,  battle  of,  313 

F 

Federal  Convention  (U.  S.). 
See  Philadelphia  Convention 

Ferdinand  (later  Ferdinand 
VII)  of  Spain,  324-325 

Feudalism,  in  Prussia,  19;  in 
France,  71,  83;  abolished  in 
France,  121-123,  275-276;  in 
Alsace,  159-160,  168;  in  Spain, 
332 

Finland,  Alexander  I  and,  314, 
32i,  347 

First  Consul.     See  Napoleon 

Five  Hundred,  Council  of  the. 
See  Council 

Florida,  acquired  by  England 
from  Spain,  1763,  7-8 

Fontainebleau,  359 

Fouquier-Tinville,  217 

Fourteenth  of  July.  See  July 
14,  1789 

Fox,  and  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, ii 

France,  the  Old  Regime  in,  2,  55- 
99 ;  and  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
7-8,  26-27 ;  a°d  the  American 
Revolution,  11-12,  100;  and 
the  Jesuits,  30 ;  aids  Prussia 
against  Austria,  52;  effect  of 
the  Revolution  in  the  life  of, 
56;  beginnings  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, 100-128;  and  the  making 
of  the  Constitution,  129-151 ; 
government  of,  under  the  Con- 
stitution of  7797,  134-141 ; 
Civil  Constitution  of  the 


376 


INDEX 


Clergy  of,  144-147;  Legislative 
Assembly  of,  152-179;  and  the 
emigres,  156-157;  declares  war 
against  Francis  II  of  Austria, 
1 68;  becomes  a  democracy, 
175 ;  Paris  becomes  dominant 
in  the  affairs  of,  175-178;  un- 
der the  Convention,  180-228, 
344;  republic  established  in, 
180-181 ;  civil  war  in,  190,  225; 
dechristianization  of,  206-209; 
under  the  Directory,  229-266; 
and  Corsica,  230;  Savoy  and 
Nice  ceded  to,  238;  and  the 
Treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  246- 
247;  threatened  with  invasion, 
258,  260;  under  the  Consulate, 
267-289;  and  the  Peace  of 
Amiens,  273-274 ;  Concordat 
determines  relations  of  church 
and  state  in,  281-283;  Code 
Napoleon,  284-285;  Bank  of, 
founded,  286;  early  years  of 
the  Empire  in,  290-317;  be- 
comes chief  Adriatic  power, 
303 ;  influence  of,  in  South 
Germany,  309;  the  Empire  at 
its  height  in,  318-337;  annexes 
Holland  and  northern  coasts 
of  Germany,  322,  338;  and  the 
Papal  States,  322,  345;  alli- 
ance of,  and  Russia  renewed, 
331,  333;  gains  of,  by  Peace 
of  Vienna,  336;  the  decline 
and  fall  of  Napoleon,  338-368; 
rupture  of  the  Franco-Russian 
alliance,  346-353  ;  peace  offered 
to,  on  the  basis  of  the  natural 
boundaries,  356-357;  allies  in- 
vade, 357;  Louis  XVIII  pro- 
claimed King  of,  359;  and  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  359-360, 
362;  policy  of  Louis  XVIII  in, 
360-361 ;  Napoleon  returns  to, 
362 

Francis  I  (Austria).  See 
Francis  II 

Francis  II  (Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire), France  declares  war 
against,  168,  170;  retires  from 
Vienna,  301 ;  becomes  Francis 


I  (Austria),  309;  daughter  of, 
marries  Napoleon,  336-337 

Frederick  II  (the  Great),  1740- 
1786,  20-32,  50,  310;  and  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  53;  Na- 
poleon visits  tomb  of,  312 

Frederick  William  I  (Prussia), 
22 

Frederick  William  II,  32 

Frederick  William  III  (Prussia), 
policy  of,  310-313;  enters 
Paris,  358 


gabelle,  salt  tax,  68-69 

Galicia,  disposition  of,  by  Peace 
of  Vienna,  335 

Gaza,  256 

General  Security.  See  Commit- 
tee of  General  Security 

"  Generalities,"  in  France  under 
the  Old  Regime,  61 

Genoa,  in  1789,  2,  14,  47;  and 
Corsica,  230;  becomes  the  Li- 
gurian  Republic,  244;  and  Na- 
poleon, 248;  Massena  driven 
into,  271-272 

George  I  (Elector  of  Hanover), 
King  of  England,  1714-1727, 
4-5 

George  II,  King  of  England, 
1727-1760,  4-6 

George  III,  King  of  England, 
1760-1820,  8-12 ;  and  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  11-12 

German  Empire.  See  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire 

Germany,  in  1789,  16-32;  Fred- 
erick II  and,  31-32;  influence 
of,  in  Russia,  40-41 ;  emigres 
in,  148,  156;  states  of,  at  war 
with  France,  187,  229;  France 
in  possession  of  provinces 
west  of  the  Rhine,  225 ;  cam- 
paign through  southern,  230; 
congress  of  states  of,  247; 
French  driven  out  of,  260; 
French  defeat  Austrians  in, 
273 ;  French  bishops  in,  279 ; 
Code  Napoleon  put  in  force 


INDEX 


377 


in  states  of,  285;  Napoleon 
seizes  Hanover,  298 ;  Napoleon 
sends  Grand  Army  across,  300; 
Bavaria  and  Baden  gain  pos- 
sessions in  south,  303 ;  trans- 
formation of,  by  Napoleon, 
306-315,  326,  339;  northern 
coasts  of,  annexed  to  France, 
322,  338 ;  kings  and  princes  of, 
summoned  to  Erfurt,  330; 
troops  from,  sent  to  aid  Na- 
poleon, 334-335 ;  Napoleon  bat- 
tles for  supremacy  in,  353- 
356;  Prussia  to  have  compen- 
sation in  northern,  354 

Gironde,  166 

Girondists,  personnel,  166-168; 
desire  war,  169;  and  the 
Jacobins,  178,  181-186,  188- 
190;  leaders  of,  expelled  from 
the  Convention,  189-190,  193, 
205 ;  call  the  departments  to 
arms,  190;  Lyons  and,  200; 
twenty-one,  guillotined,  203 ; 
offices  open  to,  278 

Godoy,  324 

Goethe,  331 

"  Governments,"  in  France  under 
the  Old  Regime,  61 

Great  Elector  (Prussia),  1640- 
1688,  21 

Great  Khan,  34 

Great  Saint  Bernard  pass,  272, 
301 

"  Great  Terror,"  205,  217 

Greece,  150 

Grenoble,  363 

Guilds,  abolished,  122,  276 

H 

Hamburg,  322,  338 

Hanover,  House  of,  in  England 
(1714 — ),  3;  Napoleon  seizes, 
298 

Hapsburg,  House  of.  See  Aus- 
tria 

Hardenberg,  343 

Hebert,  and  the  Pere  Duchesne, 
206;  guillotined,  210 


Hebertists,  209;  and  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  210 

Hohenlinden,  battle  of,  273 

Hohenzpllern,  House  of.  See 
Prussia 

Holland,  government  of,  in 
1789,  2;  young  Russians  sent 
to,  37;  at  war  with  France, 
187,  225;  makes  peace  with 
France,  225,  229;  loses  colo- 
nies, 273 ;  colonies  of,  restored, 
274;  Louis  Bonaparte  becomes 
king  of,  304;  and  the  Conti- 
nental Blockade,  322;  annexed 
to  France,  322,  338 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  in  1789,  2, 
16-19,  I59»'  comes  to  an  end, 
308-309.  See  also  Germany 

"Hundred  Days,"  365-367 


Illyrian  Provinces,  336 

India,  acquisition  of,  by  Eng- 
land, 2,  8;  in  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  7;  Napoleon  and,  251, 
256;  Wellesley  and,  329 

Industrial  Revolution,  in  Eng- 
land, 3 

Inquisition,  in  Spain,  332 

Institute,  227 

Intendants,  under  the  Old  Re- 
gime, 61-62,  271 

Invalides,  368 

Isnard,  166 

Istria,  handed  over  to  Austria, 
247 ;  ceded  to  Napoleon,  303 

Italy,  in  1789,  14-16;  states  of, 
enter  war  against  France,  187 ; 
Bonaparte  and,  230,  234,  237- 
250,  326;  French  driven  out  of, 
258,  260,  271 ;  Bonaparte  leads 
army  into,  271-272 ;  northern, 
abandoned  to  the  French,  273 ; 
Code  Napoleon  in  force  in, 
285;  Napoleon  King  of,  294, 
314,  338;  England  jealous  of 
French  domination  in,  296- 
299;  Austria  eager  to  recover 
her  position  in,  209;  Venetia 
ceded  to  the  Kingdom  of,  303; 


378 


INDEX 


and  the  Continental  Blockade, 
320;  Napoleon  annexes  part  of 
the  Papal  States  to  the  King- 
dom of,  322,  338,  345;  troops 
from,  go  to  aid  Napoleon, 
334 

J 

Jacobin  Club,  personnel,  161-162, 
196 ;  Robespierre  and,  213 

Jacobins,  and  Girondists,  168, 
178,  181-186,  188-190;  desire 
war,  169;  organize  demonstra- 
tion against  the  King,  171- 
172;  and  the  insurrection  of 
August  10,  1792,  175;  and  the 
Commune,  176,  189-190;  be- 
come masters  of  the  Conven- 
tion, 190;  Robespierre  and, 
212;  lose  power,  220;  offices 
open  to,  278 

Jaffa,  256 

Jena,  battle  of,  3",  313,  342,  354 

Jesuits,  given  refuge  by  Fred- 
erick II,  30 

Jews,  under  Louis  XVI,  85,  145 ; 
position  of,  in  South  Germany 
improved,  309 

Josephine  (Beauharnais),  Em- 
press, and  Napoleon,  233-234, 
245,  30i,  313;  crowned,  294; 
divorced,  336 

Jourdan,  230 

Julian  calendar,  introduced  into 
Russia,  41 

July  14,  1789,  119-120,  124 

June  20,  1792,  171-172,    233 

Junot,  329 

K 

Kalisch,  Treaty  of,  354 
"  King  of  Rome,"  337 
Kleber,  253,  258 
Kunersdorf,  battle  of,  28 


Lafayette,  and  the  events  of 
October  5-6,  1789,  126-127 ;  and 
the  Declaration  of  the  Rights 
of  Man,  129 


Lamartine,  166-167 

Lannes,  253 

Law  of  22nd  Prairial,  215-216, 
218 

Law  School,  of  Paris,  227 

Lebrun,  269 

Legendre,  172 

Legion  of  Honor,  286 

Legislative  Assembly,  152-179 

Legislative  Body,  269 

Legislature,  269 

Leipsic,  battle  of,  356 

Leoben,  preliminary  peace  of 
(7/97),  242,  245 

Lettres  de  cachet,  58,  86-87,  93, 
112,  119 

Liberty,  political,  in  France,  87; 
Voltaire  and,  95;  Rousseau 
and,  95-98;  Montesquieu  and, 
95,  135 ;  Louis  XVI  proclaimed 
the  Restorer  of  French,  123; 
Napoleon  and,  275,  277 

Library,  National,  227 

Ligurian  Republic.    See  Genoa 

Lisbon,  323;  Wellesley  lands  at, 
329 

Livonia,  37 

Lobau,  Island  of,  334 

Lodi,  239,  242 

Lombardy,  Austria  controls,  230, 
239;  Austria  relinquishes  her 
rights  in,  247 

Lomenie  de  Brienne,  108-109 

Louis  XIV,  100 

Louis  XV,  and  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  13;  extravagance  of, 
lop;  death  of,  101 

Louis  XVI,  government  under, 
57-87,  100-128 ;  extravagance 
of,  60,  66;  and  Protestantism, 
85 ;  and  the  beginnings  of  the 
Revolution,  100-128;  his  char- 
acter, 100-103;  his  ministers, 
102-111;  and  the  States-Gen- 
eral, 113-115;  and  the  National 
Assembly,  115-118;  and  the 
revolution  in  Paris,  120;  pro- 
claimed the  "  Restorer  of 
French  Liberty,"  123 ;  and  the 
decrees  of  August  4,  1789,  125- 
126 ;  leaves  Versailles,  127 ;  and 


INDEX 


379 


the  Constitution  of  1791,  134- 
137,  140-141,  270;  and  the  Civil 
Constitution  of  the  Clergy, 
146-147;  and  the  flight  to  Va- 
rennes,  148-151 ;  and  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly,  153-176;  and 
the  Declaration  of  Pillnitz, 
156-157;  his  brothers,  156,  279, 
287;  treason  of,  166,  170; 
Jacobins  and,  171-172,  233; 
Duke  of  Brunswick  and,  172- 
173;  seeks  safety  in  the  As- 
sembly, 174;  suspended,  175- 
176,  180;  trial  and  execution 
of,  185-186,  205 

Louis  XVIII,  legitimate  ruler  of 
France,  279;  proclaimed  King, 
359;  grants  Charter,  360;  pol- 
icy of,  360-362;  flees,  365 

Louise,  Queen,  310 

Louvre,  Museum  of,  227,  243, 
249 

Liibeck,  322,  338 

Lucca,  305 

Luneville,  Treaty  of,  273,  296, 
306 

Liitzen,  battle  of,  355 

Lyons,  190,  200 

M 

Machiavelli,  25 

Mack,  General,  300-301 

Madrid,  332 

Malesherbes,  87 

Malta,  254,  274 

Mamelukes,  254-255 

Mantua,  siege  of,  240;  fall  of, 
242 

Marat,  a  monarchist,  150;  in- 
cites the  September  Massacres, 
178;  and  the  Jacobins,  183; 
and  the  Girondists,  188 ;  the 
Commune  and,  189;  Charlotte 
Corday  and,  204 

Marengo,  272,  278,  280,  287,  301 ; 
anniversary  of,  313 

Maria  Theresa,  Empress  of  Aus- 
tria, 24,  52,  103 

Marie  Antoinette,  Queen  of 
France,  extravagance  of,  60; 


her  influence  over  Louis  XVI, 
101-104,  106,  124-127,  147;  and 
the  flight  to  Varennes,  149- 
150;  treason  of,  166,  170; 
Duke  of  Brunswick  and,  173; 
imprisoned,  176;  death  of, 
203-204 

Marie  Louise,  Archduchess  of 
Austria,  marries  Napoleon, 
336-337 

Marmont,  237,  253 

Marseilles,  190,  201 

Marsh,  the,  182 

Massena,  235,  271,  276 

Medical  School,  of  Paris,  227 

Melas,  271 

Metz,  147 

Michelet,  on  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly, 132 

Milan,  capital  of  Lombardy, 
230;  Bonaparte  and,  240,  245, 
248;  Napoleon  issues  decrees 
from,  320 

Mirabeau,  on  Prussia,  20;  im- 
prisonment of,  87,  119;  defies 
the  King,  117;  on  the  Consti- 
tution of  1791,  142;  and  the 
royal  flight,  147;  a  leader  in 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  205 ; 
compared  with  Robespierre, 
213 

Modena,  Duke  of,  and  Bona- 
parte, 244,  247-248 

Mondovi,  238 

Mongols,  33-34 

Monk,  General,  287 

Montcalm,  defeated  by  Wolfe,  7 

Montebellp,  245 

Montesquieu,  influence  of,  81, 
89-92,  95,  135,  193;  Rousseau 
and,  97 

Moreau,  and  the  campaigns  in 
Germany,  230,  271,  273;  and 
Napoleon,  240 

Moscow,  ancient  capital  of  Rus- 
sia, 33,  35,  42;  Napoleon's 
march  to,  350-351 ;  his  retreat 
from,  352-353 

Mt.  Tabor,  256 

Mountain,  the,  181.  See  also 
Jacobins 


38o 


INDEX 


Municipalities.   See  Communes 

Murat,  Joachim,  brings  cannon 
to  the  Tuileries,  224 ;  sails  with 
Bonaparte,  253;  returns  to 
France,  258;  and  the  igih  of 
Brumaire,  265 ;  humbly  born, 
276;  becomes  Duke  of  Berg, 
305;  and  the  army  in  Spain, 
323;  becomes  King  of  Naples, 
325,  339;  and  the  Russian 
Campaign,  349 

Muscovy,  Principality  of.  See 
Russia 

Museum  of  the  Louvre,  227,  243, 
249 

N 

Nancy,  Bishop  of,  122 

Nantes,  Edict  of,  revoked 
(1685),  85;  city  of,  202 

Naples,  Joseph  becomes  King  of, 
304,  323 ;  Murat  becomes  King 
of,  325,  339 

Napoleon,  and  the  Revolution,  i, 
J8,  Si,  53;  witnesses  attack  on 
the  Tuileries,  174;  defends  the 
Convention,  224-225 ;  and  the 
codification  of  the  laws  (Code 
Napoleon),  227,  284-285;  and 
the  Italian  campaign,  230,  234- 
250;  early  life  of,  230-233; 
career  of,  under  the  Directory, 
233-266;  as  Consul,  265,  267- 
289;  his  religion,  280;  and  the 
Concordat,  280-283;  Pius  VII 
and,  244,  248,  280-283,  293-294, 
322,  327,  338,  345;  and  the 
Duke  d'Enghien,  288;  Consul 
for  life,  288;  Emperor  of  the 
French,  288,  290-337 ;  "  Pro- 
tector" of  the  Confederation 
of  the  Rhine,  308;  and  Fred- 
erick William  III,  310-313; 
concludes  Peace  of  Tilsit,  313- 
316;  and  England,  318-333; 
and  Spain,  323-333;  and  Alex- 
ander I  at  Erfurt,  330-331 ; 
and  Austria,  333-337 ;  divorces 
Josephine  and  marries  Marie 
Louise,  336-337 ;  decline  and 
fall  of,  338-368;  Russia,  Prus- 


sia, and  Austria  his  allies,  339 ; 
forced  to  abdicate,  359;  re- 
turns to  Paris,  362,  365;  and 
Waterloo,  366-367;  sent  to  St. 
Helena,  367 ;  death  of,  368 

National  Archives,  227 

National  Assembly,  Third  Es- 
tate declares  itself,  115;  no- 
bility and  clergy  join,  118; 
becomes  Constituent  Assem- 
bly, 118;  effect  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  Paris  upon,  121-123; 
threats  against,  126;  goes  to 
Paris,  127;  sends  for  Louis 
XVI,  149;  adjourns,  151;  self- 
denying  ordinance,  151,  160. 
See  also  Constituent  Assembly 

National  Guard,  organized  in 
Paris,  120 

National  Library,  227 

Nazareth,  256 

Necker,  102;  financial  reforms 
of,  107-108;  recalled,  109;  in- 
capacity of,  iio-iu,  113;  dis- 
missed, 118-119 

Nelson,  Admiral,  and  the 
French,  254-255,  316-317 

Ney,  276,  313,  349 

Nice,  ceded  to  France,  238 

Nile,  battle  of  the,  255 

Noailles,  Viscount  of,  moves  the 
abolition  of  seignorial  dues, 
122 

Nobility,  in  France,  under  the 
Old  Regime,  76-80;  position 
of,  in  the  States-General,  109- 
116;  attitude  of,  toward  the 
National  Assembly,  118;  re- 
nounce feudal  dues,  122;  abol- 
ished, 123,  137,  275 

Non-juring  priests,  origin,  145- 
146;  and  the  war  in  the 
Vendee,  154-155;  murdered, 
178;  guillotined,  202;  laws 
against,  relaxed,  279 

Normal  School,  227 

North,  Lord,  ministry  of,  1770- 
1782,  10-12 

Notre  Dame,  208,  294,  363 

Nova  Scotia,  acquired  by  Eng- 
land, 1763,  7 


INDEX 


38i 


O 


October  5-6,  1789,  126-128 

Old  Regime,  in  Europe,  1-54;  in 
France,  55-99,  133,  153,  276- 
277;  desire  to  restore,  155; 
Bonaparte  prevents  the  res- 
toration of,  275 

Oldenburg,  Grand  Duchy  of,  348 

Orders  in  Council,  319 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  ambition  of, 
125 ;  death  of,  204-205 


Papacy.  See  Catholic  Church 
(Roman) 

Papal  States,  in  1789,  i ;  Napo- 
leon and,  247,  322,  338,  345 

Paris,  Peace  of,  1763,  7-8;  cap- 
ital of  France,  58,  62,  70,  307 ; 
paupers  in  (1788),  84;  Parle- 
ment  of,  demands  convocation 
of  the  States-General,  109- 
110;  and  the  events  of  July 
14,  1789,  118-120;  organizes 
the  National  Guard,  120; 
Archbishop  of,  123;  King  and 
Assembly  come  to,  127-128; 
Louis  XVI  plans  to  escape 
from,  148-149;  celebrates  "the 
end  of  the  Revolution,"  152; 
political  clubs  in,  161-162,  196; 
Assembly  provides  army  for 
protection  of,  171 ;  destruction 
of,  threatened,  173 ;  insurrec- 
tion in,  173-174;  Revolutionary 
Commune  of,  174-178,  188-190, 
205-210,  212,  219;  September 
Massacres  in,  177-179;  the 
Convention  and,  180-228;  Ja- 
cobins and,  182;  executions 
in,  202-205;  organizes  insur- 
rection against  the  Conven- 
tion, 223,  235;  Schools  of, 
227 ;  Museum  of,  227,  243,  249 ; 
Napoleon  and,  231,  233,  234, 
243,  248-249,  252,  259,  312,  317, 
362,  365,  367-368;  Councils  re- 
turn to,  265 ;  government  cen- 
tralized in,  under  the  Con- 


sulate, 271 ;  becomes  center  of 
German  politics,  307-308;  ec- 
clesiastical court  in,  336; 
capitulates,  358 

Parlements,  79,  106 

Parma,  Duke  of,  and  Bonaparte, 
244,  247 

Patterson,  Elizabeth,  306 

Peninsula  War,  322-333 

Pere  Duchesne,  206 

Peter  the  Great,  1689-1725,  35-44 

Peter  III,  of  Russia,  44 

Philadelphia  Convention,  134, 
141 

Philip  Equality.  See  Orleans, 
Duke  of 

Piacenza,  239 

Pichegru,  287 

Piedmont,  in  1789,  14;  emigres 
in,  148;  in  the  war  against 
France,  225,  229-230;  cedes 
Savoy  and  Nice  to  France,  238 

Pillnitz,  Declaration  of,  156 

Pitt,  William,  Earl  of  Chatham, 
Prime  Minister  of  England, 
I757-I76I,  6-7;  and  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  n 

Pitt,  William,  the  Younger,  273 

Pius  VI  (Pope),  244,  248 

Pius  VII  (Pope),  and  Louis 
XVIII,  279;  and  Napoleon, 
280-283,  293-294,  322,  327,  338, 
345 

Plain,  the,  182 

Plebiscite,  289 

Poland,  in  1789,  2 ;  Partitions  of, 
3i,  45,  52-53,  158,  244,  315,  335 ; 
Napoleon  goes  to,  313;  Alex- 
ander I  and,  348 

Polytechnic  School,  227 

Portugal,  and  the  Jesuits,  30; 
Napoleon  and,  320,  322-323, 
329,  334;  Duke  of  Wellington 
and,  329,  350 

Potsdam,  312 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  53 

Prairial,  Law  of  22nd,  215-216, 
218 

Press,  freedom  of,  suspended, 
176;  liberty  of  the,  and  Bona- 
parte, 277 


382 


INDEX 


Pressburg,  Treaty  of,  302-303 
Protestantism,       outlawed       in 
France,    85 ;    Protestants    and 
the   Civil   Constitution  of  the 
Clergy,  145 

Provence,  Count  of,  150-157 
Prussia,  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
fury,  2,  16-32;  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  6,  26-29;  and 
Austria,  18-19,  21,  24,  26, 
3i,  52-53,  244;  rise  of,  19-32, 
46;  and  Poland,  31,  53,  244; 
and  Russia,  31,  53,  244; 
and  the  emigres,  156;  joins 
Austria  in  the  war  against 
France,  172-173,  225;  makes 
peace  with  France,  225,  229, 
310;  policy  of  Frederick  Wil- 
liam III  of,  310-311;  Napoleon 
and,  312-313,  315,  3i8,  339, 
349;  not  included  in  the  Con- 
federation of  the  Rhine,  315, 
339;  and  the  Continental 
Blockade,  321 ;  development  of 
nationality  in,  342-345 ;  and  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  348; 
King  of,  makes  treaty  of  alli- 
ance with  Russia,  353 ;  and  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  359-360, 
362;  and  the  Waterloo  Cam- 
paign, 366-367 
Public  Safety.  See  Committee 

of  Public  Safety 
Pyramids,  battle  of  the,  255 


Quesnay,  89 


Ramolino,  Laetitia,  231 

Reign  of  Terror,  168,  192,  210, 
228;  Danton  and,  210-211 

Republic,  established  in  France, 
168,  180-181 ;  under  the  Con- 
vention, 180-228;  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  1795,  222-223 ;  un- 
der the  Directory,  229-266; 


under  the  Consulate,  267-289; 
England  recognizes  the  French, 
273 

Republican  Party,  in  France,  151 

Revolution,  American,  11-13,  129; 
beginnings  of  the  French,  100- 
128 

Revolutionary  Commune  of 
Paris.  See  Paris 

Revolutionary  Tribunal,  created, 
187,  193,  212;  Marat  and,  188; 
work  of,  195-196,  199,  201-205 ; 
Robespierre  and,  212-213,  215- 
216,  218 

Rhenish  Confederation.  See 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine 

Rhine,  French  control  of  Ger- 
man territory  west  of,  274,  285, 
296,  299,  306-310;  Confedera- 
tjon  of  the.  See  Confedera- 
tion 

Rights  of  Man,  Declaration  of, 

129-134,  138,  141,  164,  171,  199- 
200,  276,  344 

Rivoli,  242 

Robespierre,  a  monarchist,  150; 
leader  of  the  Jacobin  Club, 
161,  183 ;  opposes  war  with 
Austria,  169;  overthrow  of, 
176,  219,  233,  263;  on  the  Re- 
public, 181 ;  demands  execu- 
tion of  Louis  XVI,  185-186; 
and  the  Girondists,  188;  and 
the  Commune,  189;  and  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
193-195;  and  Danton,  209-212; 
becomes  master  of  the  Ja- 
cobins, 212;  as  dictator,  213- 
217;  arrest  of,  218 

Roland,  Madame,  influence  of, 
167 ;  death  of,  203 

Roman  Catholic  Church.  See 
Catholic  Church  (Roman) 

Romanoff,  House  of,  1613 — . 
See  Russia 

Rome,  249,  294,  320;  King  of, 
337;  Napoleon  annexes,  338, 
345 

Rossbach,  battle  of,  28 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  influ- 
ence and  work  of,  81,  84,  86, 


INDEX 


383 


89,  95-98,  213-215,  232,  275 ;  on 

Corsica,  235 

Russia,  in  1789,  2,  32;  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  6,  27-28, 
44;  early  history,  32-46;  and 
Poland,  31,  45,  53,  244;  and 
Asia,  33-34;  Peter  the  Great 
and,  35-44 ;  and  Sweden,  37,  40, 
45;  and  Turkey,  37,  45,  299; 
influence  of  Germany  in,  40- 
41 ;  enters  war  against  France, 
187 ;  enters  new  coalition,  260, 
271 ;  joins  England  against 
Napoleon,  299-302,  312;  Alex- 
ander I  of,  concludes  Peace  of 
Tilsit,  313-316,  318,  321,  330; 
takes  Finland,  321 ;  Alexander 
I  of,  and  Napoleon  at  Erfurt, 
330-331 ;  alliance  of,  and 
France  renewed,  331,  333,  339; 
gains  part  of  Galicia,  335-336; 
rupture  of  Franco-Russian  al- 
liance, 346-353;  makes  Treaty 
of  Kalisch  with  Prussia,  354; 
and  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 
359-360,  362 

S 

St.  Cloud,  263-265 

St.  Helena,  Napoleon  and,  251, 
283,  291,  298,  365 

Saint-Just,  185 ;  arrest  of,  218 

St.  Petersburg,  42-43 

Sons-culottes,  164 

Sardinia.    See  Piedmont 

Savoy,  ceded  to  France,  238 

Saxony,  overrun  by  Frederick 
II,  27,  29;  and  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Warsaw,  315 ;  and 
the  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine,  339 

Schonbrunn,  Peace  of,  335-336 

Senate,  under  the  Constitution  of 
the  Year  VII I,  269;  approves 
new  constitution,  288;  dis- 
solves Napoleon's  marriage 
with  Josephine,  336 ;  proclaims 
Louis  XVIII  King  of  France, 

359 

September  Massacres,  176-179, 
188,  233 


"  Septembrists,"  178 

Seven  Years'  War,  1756-1763, 
6-8,  26,  44 

Siberia,  Russia  conquers,  34 

Sieyes,  Abbe,  on  the  Third  Es- 
tate, 82;  and  Bonaparte,  261- 
265;  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  Year  VIII,  268 

Silesia,  Frederick  the  Great 
takes,  24,  26,  29,  52 

Smith,  Goldwin,  on  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  n 

Smolensk,  350 

Social  Contract,  by  Rousseau.  96- 
98 

Sophia,  regent  during  the  minor- 
ity of  Peter  (later  the  Great), 

Spain,  and  the  Jesuits,  30;  en- 
ters war  against  France,  187, 
225;  makes  peace  with  France, 
225,  229;  ally  of  France,  273; 
colonies  of,  restored,  274;  and 
the  war  between  France  and 
England,  320,  322-333,  341; 
Charles  IV  of,  abdicates,  324; 
Joseph  becomes  King  of,  325, 
329,  339;  development  of  na- 
tionality in,  342 

Spirit  of  Laws,  1748,  by  Montes- 
quieu, 90 

States-General,  demand  for  con- 
vocation of,  109;  meets  May  5, 
1789,  in,  113-115,  129.  See 
National  Assembly  and  Con- 
stituent Assembly 

States  of  the  Church.  See  Papal 
States 

Stein,  343 

Strassburg,  Archbishop  of,  74 

Stuarts,  in  England,  3,  5 

Suffrage,  universal,  in  France, 
175,  191 ;  abandoned,  221 

"Suspects,"  199 

Sweden,  in  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  27 ;  and  Russia,  37,  40, 
45  ;  Alexander  I  and,  314,  347; 
allied  with  England,  321 

Swiss  Guard,  120,  174 

Switzerland,  in  1789,  2,  47 

Syria,  invasion  of,  256-257 


384 


INDEX 


Talleyrand,  307 

Talma,  331 

Taranto,  298 

Tariff,  Napoleon  establishes  high 
protective,  297 

Temple,  King  and  Queen  impris- 
oned in  the,  176 

Tennis  Court  Oath,  116 

Terror.  See  Reign  of  Terror 
and  "  Great  Terror  " 

Thermidor,  206;  death  of  Robes- 
pierre on  the  pth  of,  217-218 

Third  Estate,  in  France,  under 
Old  Regime,  80-84;  position 
of,  in  the  States-General,  109- 
114;  declares  itself  the  Na- 
tional Assembly,  115;  swept 
away,  275 

Tilsit,  Peace  of,  313-316,  318, 
321-322,  330,  347 

Tithes,  under  the  Old  Regime, 
71,  83;  abandoned,  122,  276; 
abolished  in  South  Germany, 
309 

Tories,  in  England,  5;  and 
George  III,  10;  in  America,  n 

Toulon,  suspects  in,  201 ;  Bona- 
parte and,  224,  233,  253 

Trafalgar,  battle  of,  316,  318 

Tribunate,  269 

Tricolor,  adopted,  120;  stamped 
upon,  126;  cockade,  164;  ban- 
ished, 360 

Trieste,  Austria  retains,  303; 
ceded  to  France,  336 

Trinidad,  274 

Tuileries,  Louis  XVI  and,  127, 
149-150,  171,  184,  186;  at- 
tacked, 173-174;  Convention 
meets  in,  189,  224,  233 ;  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  in, 
194;  Napoleon  returns  to, 
362,  365 

Turgot,  on  the  taxation  of  the 
peasantry,  83 ;  and  Louis  XVI, 
102,  104;  financial  reforms, 
104-107,  108;  influence  of,  on 
Napoleon,  232 

Turin,  238 


Turkey,  in  1789,  2;  and  Russia, 
37,  45,  299;  and  Egypt,  251, 
254;  Sultan  of,  declares  war 
against  Bonaparte,  256-258 ; 
Alexander  I's  designs  against, 
314;  Alexander  I  gains  the 
Danubian  principalities  from, 
347 

Tuscany,  359 

U 

Ulm,  300-301,  316 

United  States,  Constitution  of, 
compared  with  French  Consti- 
tution of  1791,  134,  141 


Valengay,  325 

Valmy,  179 

Varennes,  flight  to,  149,  151,  153, 
161,  162 

Vendee,  nobles  in,  78;  civil  war 
in,  146,  154,  187,  190,  201,  261 

Vendemiaire,  the  I3th  of,  224, 
233. 

Venetia,  and  the  Cisalpine  Re- 
public, 247 ;  ceded  to  the  King- 
dom of  Italy,  303 

Venice,  in  1789,  2,  14,  47 ;  young 
Russians  sent  to,  37;  over- 
throw of,  244-245  ;  disposal  of, 
247 ;  bronze  horses  of,  249 

Verdun,  besieged,  177 

Vergniaud,  166 

Versailles,  life  at,  58-61,  74-75; 

fovernment  of  France  directed 
rom,  62;  States-General  to 
meet  in,  109,  113,  129;  soldiers 
appear  near,  118;  tricolor  in- 
sulted, 126;  people  march  to, 
126-128;  King  and  Assembly 
leave,  128;  royalists  at,  310 

Vienna,  Marie  Antoinette  and, 
104 ;  campaign  directed  against, 
230,  240;  Napoleon  enters,  300- 
301,  334;  Peace  of,  335-336; 
Congress  of,  359-36o,  362,  365 

Vincennes,  288 

Volney,  Bonaparte  and,  281 


INDEX 


385 


Voltaire,  influence  of,  45,  64,  8r, 
84,  89,  232;  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  85,  94-95 ;  im- 
prisonment of,  86,  93,  119; 
work  of,  91-95  ;  compared  with 
Rousseau,  95-96 


W 

Wagram,  battle  of,  335 

Warsaw,  Napoleon  goes  to,  313 ; 
Grand  Duchy  of,  315,  335-336, 
339»  348,  354 

Waterloo,  14,  168,  251 ;  battle  of, 
366 

Wellesley,  Sir  Arthur  (later 
Duke  of  Wellington),  and  the 
war  in  Spain,  329,  356;  mili- 
tary tactics  of,  350;  and  Napo- 
leon at  Waterloo,  366-367 


Wellington,  Duke  of.  See 
Wellesley 

Westphalia,  treaties  of,  160; 
Kingdom  of,  and  the  Confed- 
eration of  the  Rhine,  315,  339; 
Jerome  flees  from,  356 

Whigs,  rule  of,  in  England,  5; 
colonial  policy  of,  6;  and 
George  III,  10;  and  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  n 

Wieland,  331 

Wolfe,  defeats  Montcalm,  7 

Wordsworth,  on  Venice,  244 

Worship  of  Reason,  established 
by  Commune  of  Paris,  208- 
209,  215 

Wurmser,  240 

Wurtemberg,  electorate  of,  16; 
becomes  a  kingdom,  303 ;  and 
the  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine,  308 


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